Voting delayed for Filipinos in Jeddah

April 12, 2013

Voting_Filipinos

Riyadh/Jeddah, Apr 12: The overseas absentee voting among Overseas Filipino Workers starting tomorrow in Riyadh and the Eastern Province has been delayed in Jeddah because the ballot boxes and other election documents are yet to arrive.

The voting in Riyadh and the Eastern Province will continue until May 13.

Consul Leo Tito L. Ausan Jr., in charge of the electoral process at the Philippines Consulate in Jeddah, told Arab News that the Consulate has received the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines but that the ballot boxes are still awaited.

In Riyadh, Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago said the embassy has made all arrangements to conduct the first automated elections.

“In preparation for the election, the embassy organized training for poll officers to handle the Automated Election System (AES),” Tago told Arab News.

He said the embassy received eight PCOS machines from the Philippines and that it is 100 percent ready to conduct the elections for the senatorial and party-list polls.

Aside from the eight PCOS machines, the embassy also received ballots and paraphernalia for automated elections.

The mission in Riyadh is one of seven foreign-service posts that will adopt the automated election system this year.

Tago invited all registered overseas voters to exercise their right to vote to select the next leaders of the country.

The automated elections follow the training of personnel who will serve as members of the Special Board of Election Inspectors, Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group and Special Board of Canvassers.

The embassy has invited all Filipinos to visit its website (www.philembassy-riyadh.org) and Facebook page to see if their names are there on the Certified List of Overseas Voters for Riyadh.

The list for Riyadh is also printed and posted at the embassy premises and registered voters may check the number of their precincts before proceeding to the precincts where they should vote.

In Jeddah, a total of 30 personnel are being trained to handle the poll management.

In Riyadh, there are 53,396 registered Filipino voters — the largest overseas voter bloc in the Middle East region.

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Agencies
April 27,2020

Riyad, Apr 27: The Saudi-led Arab Coalition supporting Yemen’s UN-recognized government on Monday urged all parties to end any escalation of hostilities and return to the status that existed before the Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared self-rule.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the coalition emphasized “the need to cancel any step that violates the Riyadh agreement and work to accelerate its implementation.” 

On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates-backed STC scrapped a peace deal with the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Accusing the government of corruption and mismanagement, the separatists said they would “self-govern” the key southern port city of Aden and other southern provinces.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami described the move as a “resumption of its (STC’s) armed insurgency and rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement.” 

Authorities in Yemen’s southern provinces of Hadramawt, Abyan, Shabwa, Al-Mahra and the remote island of Socotra also rejected the separatist group’s claim to self-rule.

The government said local and security authorities in the five provinces dismissed the move as a “clear and definite coup.” 

Some of the provinces issued their own statements condemning it.

The coalition appealed to all parties to “give priority to the interests of the Yemeni people over any other interests”. 

It also urged the parties involved not to lose their focus on working to achieve the goal of restoring the state, ending the Houthi “coup” and “countering terrorist organizations”.

“The Coalition has and will continue to undertake practical and systematic steps to implement the Riyadh Agreement between the parties to unite Yemeni ranks, restore state institutions and combat the scourge of terrorism,” the statement said. “The responsibility rests with the signatories to the Agreement to undertake national steps toward implementing its provisions, which were signed and agreed upon with a time matrix for implementation.”

The STC has been part of the coalition-backed forces fighting the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which seized control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other provinces in 2014.

The Houthi “coup” has led to the formation of the Saudi-led coalition, which had since driven away the Houthis from the south and other provinces. President Hadi’s government has made Aden as its temporary seat.

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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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Agencies
May 25,2020

Abu Dhabi, May 25: Dusty weather to persist in the UAE on Monday as well with a chance of rainfall in parts of the country, the national Met department reported.

According to the NCM, the weather today will be fair to partly cloudy, with a chance of some convective clouds formation by afternoon - eastward and northward - extending to some internal areas that may be associated with some rainfall.

The weather will get humid by night and Tuesday morning over some coastal areas.

NCM predicts a wet Eid break.

Sharjah Police issued a weather warning as heavy rain flooded roads in Sharjah's Kalba among other areas.

Moderate to fresh winds will gain strength during the day causing blowing dust and sand.

The sea will be slight to moderate in the Arabian Gulf and in Oman Sea.

Earlier on Sunday, a weather alert was issued by authorities as moderate to heavy rain - accompanied with hail - lashed parts of the UAE. A rainbow in Dubai skies cheered up residents, celebrating a unique Eid this year amid the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic - by mostly staying home.

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