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Saudi king discusses key issues with Lieberman

May 1, 2012

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Riyadh, May 1: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held wide-ranging talks with US Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, here at Al-Yamamah Palace yesterday.

The talks between King Abdullah and the visiting US senator focused "on key bilateral and regional issues" with a keen desire to strengthen ties and forge common positions to deal with new challenges facing the region and the world at large.

King Abdullah and Lieberman reviewed a number of issues, said an SPA report published yesterday. "The visit of Lieberman, who heads the US Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee responsible for assuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the US federal government, is also said to be some sort of farewell call to Saudi officials," said a reliable source, who preferred to remain anonymous. He was referring to Lieberman's Senate term ending this year.

The audience with the king was attended by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, minister of foreign affairs; Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, chief of General Intelligence; Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, minister of state, member of the Cabinet and commander of the National Guard; Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, deputy minister of foreign affairs; Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi ambassador to the United States; and senior US officials.

The source said Lieberman, who will wrap up his visit to Riyadh today, also met with Prince Salman, minister of defense yesterday. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries besides exchanging information about regional issues. Lieberman has suggested that Saudi Arabia and Qatar arm Syrian rebels in a bid to stop the bloodbath in Syria.

Lieberman said in a statement a few days ago: “It is time for the Obama administration to acknowledge what is obvious and indisputable in Syria: the Annan plan has failed."

Assad has escalated the violence, killing at least 1,000 additional Syrians and displacing thousands more from their homes, said the US senator, adding that “changing the military balance inside Syria requires the United States, in close coordination with our Turkish, Arab and other allies, to provide the Syrian opposition with the help they are pleading for to defend themselves."

This can include training and equipping the Syrian opposition with weapons, providing them with tactical intelligence, and using air power to target Assad’s command-and-control and help the Syrian opposition to create safe zones inside Syria, he added.

In early April, Lieberman went on a surprise trip to the Turkish-Syrian border to meet with leaders of the Free Syria Army and visit Syrian refugees who have been under attack by Syrian government forces. At that time also, Lieberman said in a statement that Syrian President Bashar Assad has violated the terms of Kofi Anann's cease-fire and that the only practical way forward is to arm the Syrian opposition.


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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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Saudi Gazette
May 27,2020

Riyadh, May 27: Following the announcement of easing of lockdown measures, which includes reopening of all mosques for daily congressional as well as Friday prayers across the Kingdom except the holy city of Makkah, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance has set mandatory guidelines.

In a circular issued to mosque staff, Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Asheikh has instructed that all mosques must comply with the following precautionary measures and instructions:

1. Open mosques 15 minutes before the Adhan and close them 10 minutes after prayer

2. Reduce the waiting period between the Adhan and Iqamah to 10 minutes

3. Open windows and doors from entering time to the end of the prayer

4. Remove copies of Holy Qur’an and other books temporarily from mosques

5. Ensure attendees keep a distance of two meters between each other

6. Ensure one space is left between each row

7. Close all water coolers and refrigerators

8. Do not allow distribution of water or food in mosques

9. Close toilets and places of ablution

Precautionary measures on Friday prayers are as follows:

1. Open mosques 20 minutes before Friday prayer and closing them 20 minutes after prayer.

2. Friday sermon with prayer should not exceed 15 minutes.

The circular also stipulates to keep the suspension of the religious courses, programs and lectures, as well as the memorizing Holy Qur'an sessions in the mosques and to continue education and lectures remotely until further notice.

The circular pointed out that the imams of mosques should urge the worshipers to take the following precautionary measures:

1. Wear a face mask

2. Bring their own prayer rugs and not leave them after the prayer

3. Prevent accompanying children under 15 years of age from entering mosques

4. Perform ablution at home

5. Avoid crowding when entering or exiting mosques

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior clarified later in the day that people are allowed to perform congressional prayers in their locality during the time of curfew.

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News Network
April 18,2020

Apr 18: Taking a strong notice of Islamophobia on social media, Princess Hend Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of United Arab Emirates, called out a series of tweets by a user named Saurabh Upadhyay.

Upadhyay had posted tweets attacking Muslims over the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March in Delhi that led to surge of coronavirus cases cases in India. He also gave into rumours of muslims ‘spiting on food’ to spread the virus.

Princess Qassimi shared the screenshots of his tweets and warned that those engaging in racism and Islamophobia will have to pay penalty and will be made to leave UAE. Upadhyay has apparently deactivated his Twitter handle now.

Responding to his earlier posts, she though the ruling family of UAE is “friends with Indians”, his rudeness was “not welcome”.

“All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed,” she wrote.

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