Angela Merkel arrives in Saudi Arabia without headscarf

May 1, 2017

Riyadh, May 1: German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Saudi Arabia without a headscarf for talks with the oil-rich kingdom's monarch.

Angela

Ms Merkel was greeted by King Salman and other top officials upon her arrival at the western city of Jiddah.

Like other recent female Western visitors, the German Chancellor did not cover her hair upon arrival in the conservative Islamic kingdom.

Prime Minister Theresa May also eschewed the strict dress code for women when she arrived in Riyadh, after saying she hoped to be an inspiration to oppressed women in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia enforces a conservative dress code in public, requiring women to wear a full-length robe and cover their hair, in keeping with other restrictive laws including a guardian system limiting women's movement and a ban on driving.

Foreign visitors have not always followed the protocol, and Ms Merkel follows the footsteps of Ms May, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Ms Merkel has called for the burqa to be banned in Germany, saying it was "not acceptable in our county". "It should be banned, wherever it is legally possible," Ms Merkel said.

Last week, the German parliament voted for a draft law banning women working in the civil service, judiciary and military from wearing full-face veils. Burqas and niqabs will be prohibited in selected professions as part of the legislation, once approved by the Bundesrat state parliament.

The German leader is expected to press Gulf leaders to do more to take in refugees and provide humanitarian relief for refugees fleeing conflict in Muslim-majority countries.

Her country has provided refuge to hundreds of thousands of people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.

She is scheduled to travel to the neighbouring United Arab Emirates after visiting Saudi Arabia.

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News Network
April 25,2020

Riyadh, Apr 25: Saudi Arabia announced nine deaths and 1,197 new cases of the COVID-19 virus on Saturday.

Of these cases, 120 were recorded in Madinah, 364 in Makkah, 271 in Jeddah, 170 in Riyadh and 43 in Dammam.

The number of people who had recovered from the coronavirus in the Kingdom increased to 2,214 after 165 patients were reported to have recovered.

A total of 136 people have died of the disease in the Kingdom so far.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

Riyadh, Jun 22: The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MMRA) in Saudi Arabia has announced the continuation of the ban on providing Shisha (hubble-bubble), and the closure of children's play areas in restaurants as a precautionary measure for protecting the health of citizens and residents from the novel coronavirus COVID-19 infection.

The new stage, in which the Kingdom is beginning to coexist with the virus, focuses on the concept of "social distancing" that has emerged since the start of the coronavirus crisis throughout the world,

It stipulates leaving at least 2 meters between one person and the other in public places to prevent the transmission of infection, in addition to covering the mouth and nose by wearing a facemask.

It also specifies complying with the preventive protocols in workplaces, stores, shops, mosques and tourist attractions, with human gatherings not to exceed 50 people, as a maximum.

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News Network
March 24,2020

Mar 24: Saudi Arabia has recorded its first death from the coronavirus in a 51-year-old Afghani resident, Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali told a televised news conference on Tuesday.

The man's health deteriorated quickly after reporting to a hospital emergency room in the city of Medina and he died on Monday night, Abdelali said.

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