Middle East

Jeddah, May 10: Saudi Arabia's grand mufti has condemned Nigeria's Boko Haram as a group "set up to smear the image of Islam" and condemned its kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls. Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh said the group was "misguided" and should be "shown their wrong path and be made to reject it." His remarks came as religious leaders in the Muslim world denounced Boko Haram leader Abubakar

Riyadh, May 9: Saudi Arabia's death toll from MERS has risen by five to 126 fatalities since the mystery respiratory virus first appeared in the kingdom in 2012, the health ministry said today. Two men, aged 47 and 60, died in the western city of Medina on Wednesday, an 84-year-old man died in Mecca and a fourth died in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. All three cities are closely associated with the

Jeddah, May 9: A prominent labor expert has suggested that the Kingdom will require expatriate manpower in various sectors over the next 40 years. Abdullah Dahlan, former Saudi representative to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Business and Technology, also reiterated the need for more Saudi men and women to match their

Riyadh, May 9: The Ministry of Labor plans to shift all its services online soon, including the paperwork for domestic workers, and early warnings for companies it decides to move into the Red Zone of the Nitaqat System, a ministry official has said. “We are trying our best to improve the performance level of our services with ease of access ... that satisfies both customers and the ministry,”

Jeddah, May 7: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah reiterated the role of the media in promoting peace and stability across the world during the three-day Asia Media Summit 2014, which was inaugurated here on Tuesday. “We hope this summit will strengthen media cooperation between Asian countries,” said the king in his keynote speech, which was read out by Culture and Information

Jeddah, May 5: The GCC is tightening its medical screening process for newly arriving expats in an effort to keep the region free from communicable diseases. The six-state bloc also intends to keep a close watch on accredited health centers in various cities in manpower-exporting countries. Many Asian nationals have been deported after arriving in the Kingdom because despite being declared

Jeddah, May 4: Health authorities on Saturday reported 18 new infections from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and raised the death toll to 111 in the kingdom, up from 107 on Friday. In its latest MERS update on its website, however, the Ministry of Health mentioned only two new fatalities: a 69-year-old woman in Makkah, who was suffering from tuberculosis and anemia, and a

Riyadh/Jeddah, May 3: Seven fresh cases of coronavirus (MERS-CoV) were reported on Friday bringing the total number of infected cases in the Kingdom to 378 including 107 deaths since September 2012. No fatalities due to the virus have been reported in any part of the Kingdom on Friday, said a Health Ministry official. Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih, meanwhile, said his ministry was currently

Jeddah, May 1: Two new deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in Saudi Arabia has jacked up the toll to 107, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. Sixteen new cases were also confirmed over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of cases diagnosed in the kingdom to 361, the MOH said in its webpage on MERS. It said the two fatalities included a 41-year-old man

Cairo, Apr 28: An Egyptian court has sentenced 683 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to death. In a separate case, the same court also reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 it passed in March, commuting most of the death sentences to life in prison, the AFP news agency reported. Monday's hearing in the southern province of Minya comes amid a brutal crackdown on Morsi