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118 years for accused in Jeddah flood disaster

December 1, 2014

Jeddah flood

Jeddah, Dec 1: The long-awaited verdict against people accused of causing the 2009 Jeddah floods has finally been announced. The floods killed more than 120 people and destroyed several homes causing damage to property worth millions of riyals in the sprawling city.

The Court of Grievances issued 39 verdicts that convicted 45 defendants and acquitted 78 others. The convicted defendants will spend a total of 118 years and six months in jail and pay a total of SR14.17 million in fines.

The court dealt with 131 defendants in 32 cases filed on the issue creating a big uproar among Jeddawis as it was unprecedented in the city’s history.

There were 12 decisions urging investigators to complete their probes while five decisions called for adding some cases to others.

The verdicts have been handed over to the Makkah governorate to be pronounced on the defendants including high-ranking officials in service departments, academics, engineers, businessmen and foreign workers.

The charges against the defendants included accepting and payment of bribery, forgery, misuse of official authority, misuse of public money, engaging in illegal business activities and money laundering.

Investigators had probed 300 people and 30 companies. The Jeddah floods resulted in the deaths of more than 120 people and rendered about 10,000 people homeless. It prompted the Makkah governorate to carry out 14 emergency projects to deal with floods in the city.

The projects, which were said to have been completed in record time, included the construction of Um Al-Khair and Samir dams.

In addition, the government implemented a number of other projects including five dams, expansion of the existing canals in the northern, southern and eastern parts of Jeddah and the construction of a new canal along King Abdulaziz International Airport to contain the floods in the city.

Nesma Company won a contract worth SR803 million to build four dams in Wadi Ghaya, Wadi Um Hablain, Wadi Daghbaj, and Wadi Briman and another contract worth SR372 million to build a dam in Wadi Ghalil and renovate the southern floodwater path.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Makkah, Jul 31: Organising this year's scaled-down hajj required "double efforts" by Saudi authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic, King Salman said Friday after being discharged from hospital following gall bladder surgery.

Only up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom are participating in this year's pilgrimage, compared with 2019's gathering of some 2.5 million from around the world.

"Holding the ritual in the shadow of this pandemic... required reducing the numbers of pilgrims, but it obliged various official agencies to put in double efforts," 84-year-old King Salman said in a speech read out on state television by acting media minister Majid Al-Qasabi.

"The hajj this year was restricted to a very limited number of people from multiple nationalities, ensuring the ritual was completed despite the difficult circumstances," he said.

The speech came on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, a day after the king left hospital following a 10-day stay for surgery to remove his gall bladder.

The hajj, which began on Wednesday, is one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

Authorities implemented the "highest health precautions" during the rituals, the king said.

Pilgrims, who were all tested for the virus, are required to wear masks and observe social distancing.

For Friday's "stoning of the devil", the last major ritual of the hajj, Saudi authorities offered the pilgrims pebbles that were sanitised to protect against the pandemic.

In a sign that its strict measures were working, the health ministry reported no coronavirus cases in the holy sites on Wednesday or Thursday.

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News Network
March 18,2020

Dubai, Mar 18: Emirates, one of the world's biggest international airlines, has asked pilots to take unpaid leave to help it mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has shattered demand for global travel.

"To this end you are strongly encouraged to make use of this opportunity to volunteer for additional paid and unpaid leave," the airline said in an internal email to pilots, seen by Reuters.

Emirates earlier this month asked some staff to take unpaid leave, although at that time it was not available to pilots.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Paris, Feb 5: Saudi Arabia has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus on a poultry farm, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday, February 4.

The outbreak, which occurred in the central Sudair region, killed 22,700 birds, the OIE said, citing a report from the Saudi agriculture ministry.

The other 385,300 birds in the flock were slaughtered, it said.

The case was the first outbreak of the H5N8 virus in Saudi Arabia since July 2018.

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