Middle East

Jeddah, June 3: The Cabinet has called on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to assess whether it is playing an effective role in the promotion of security and stability in the world. The call was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Deputy Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Salman at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday. The Kingdom had stressed this view at the Ministerial Conference of the

Riyadh, June 2: Two people died and one person was infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 189 out of 571 cases since September 2012. The two latest victims were among previously reported patients. They were a 55-year-old man at a government hospital in Riyadh and 45-year-old woman at a government hospital in Jeddah, while the

Geneva, Jun 1: An international team of scientists say they have identified a compound that can fight coronaviruses, responsible for the SARS and MERS outbreaks, which currently have no cure. Coronaviruses affected the upper and lower respiratory tracts in humans. They are the reason for up to a third of common colds. A more severe strain of the virus, thought to have come from bats, triggered the

Riyadh, May 30: Chatting between unrelated males and females on social networking sites is forbidden in Islamic law, said Abdullah Al-Mutlaq, a member of the committee of senior scholars. Al-Mutlaq said that having one-on-one chatting sessions is a form of “khulwa,” the Islamic term for free mixing, which he said is a gateway to sin. Al-Mutlaq’s statements came in response to a question asked on a

Jeddah, May 29: Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar has warned domestic Haj service operators against increasing Haj service charges, adding that companies that impose exorbitant prices would be fined up to SR100,000. “Monitoring panels have noticed that 52 companies have hiked prices during the last Haj season,” he said, adding that their cases have been transferred to a ministerial committee for punitive

Jeddah, May 28: The sun would be directly over the Kaaba in Makkah today at midday, in a celestial phenomenon known as “zero shadow,” the Jeddah Astronomical Society said on Sunday in a statement. On Wednesday, the sun will rise at 5:38 a.m. from the northeast horizon and eventually move over the Kaaba at 12:18 p.m. The Kaaba will lose its shadow briefly. The planetary phenomenon occurs twice

Jeddah, May 28: A young Saudi national has died in Qassim after falling from a pickup truck when the driver performed a drifting stunt, according to local media. This was the first death recorded from drifting since the final examinations started on Sunday, according to the report. Young Saudis engage in drifting maneuvers during examination periods. “The dead man was traveling in a Hilux pickup

Jeddah, May 26: The Labor Ministry announced Sunday that it has finalized seven new regulations, including a law that allows expats to transfer their sponsorship onto new employers without the permission of their current sponsors. Ahmed Al-Humaidan, deputy minister for labor policies, said a working team has been appointed to conduct more studies on the draft law that restricts the stay of expats

Dammam, May 25: A nursing college student has died in the Eastern Province after contracting the swine flu (H1N1) virus, said the region’s Health Affairs Directorate. Her death is the first caused by the virus in two years. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry announced one MERS death and four infections on Saturday, adding that two patients have recovered. The victim was a 40-year-old woman, who was

Riyadh/Jeddah, May 24: The Health Ministry has stepped up efforts to reach out to people across the city to raise awareness about protection from the deadly coronavirus amid increasing concern among people. The ministry reported three new cases of the MERS-CoV and the death of a 46-year-old man on Friday. The new patients included one each in Jeddah, Madinah and Makkah. Four more patients were