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Now, birth control debate in Saudi Arabia

November 24, 2014

Jeddah, Nov 24: So called experts have emphasized the need for population control to preserve the economic resources and urged the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars and the Shoura Council to express their opinion on the sensitive issue.

“People are afraid of talking about birth control in the Kingdom because of sensitivity and ignore the educational, economic and organizational dimensions of the issue,” said Fadhel Al-Bouainain, an economist.

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“Families have to apply birth control in order to reduce expenses and provide better education and facilities to their children,” he said while describing the Kingdom’s population growth as the highest in the world.

He said birth control was essential to reduce pressure on the country’s infrastructure facilities, especially for health, education and housing. “Birth control should be a strategic objective,” he said.

According to the latest census, the Kingdom’s population has reached nearly 20 million. This means the population doubled during the last 15 years. “If the population grows at this rate, it would become one of the major obstacles that hinder the country’s economic growth,” Al-Bouainain said.

He said the Saudi economy is largely dependent on state revenues and not on population. The spending on education takes 25 percent of the general budget and 85 percent of this allocation goes to salaries for teachers and only 15 percent is set aside for development projects in the sector.

Mohammed Al-Senaidy, a consultant for maternity and children in Khamis Mushayt, urged the media to take up the issue of birth control. He noted the craze of some Saudi women to have more children, even when they suffer from various complications.

Sabah Zahar, a sociologist at Saudi-German Hospital, stressed the importance of birth control for reducing family expenditure. “It should become a culture of families and it is a good option for working women,” she said.

Awad Al-Qarni, a religious thinker, said Islam has approved birth control in certain situations. “Scholars should give their opinion on it,” he said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 12,2020

Riyadh, May 12: Saudi Arabia will impose a full-day lockdown and curfew across the Kingdom during the upcoming Eid holidays from May 23 until May 27, according to the Kingdom’s Interior Ministry.

Details are awaited

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News Network
May 21,2020

Dubai, May 21: Around 10,000 Iranian health workers have been infected with the new coronavirus, the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted a deputy health minister as saying on Thursday.

Health services are stretched thin in Iran, the Middle East country hardest hit by the respiratory pandemic, with 7,249 deaths and a total of 129,341 infections. The Health Ministry said in April that over 100 health workers had died of COVID-19.

No more details on infections among health workers were immediately available.

Earlier on Thursday, Health Minister Saeed Namaki appealed to Iranians to avoid travelling during the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday later this month to avoid the risk of a new surge of coronavirus infections, state TV reported.

Iranians often travel to different cities around the country to mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, something Namaki said could lead to a disregard of social distancing rules and a fresh outbreak of COVID-19.

"I am urging you not to travel during the Eid. Definitely, such trips mean new cases of infection...People should not travel to and from those high-risk red areas," Namaki was quoted by state television as saying.

"Some 90% of the population in many areas has not yet contracted the disease. In the case of a new outbreak, it will be very difficult for me and my colleagues to control it."

A report by parliament's research centre suggested that the actual tally of infections and deaths in Iran might be almost twice that announced by the health ministry.

However, worried that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy which has already been battered by U.S. sanctions, the government has been easing most restrictions on normal life in late April.

Infected cases have been on a rising trajectory for the past two weeks. However, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran was close to curbing the outbreak.

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Agencies
April 27,2020

Riyadh, Apr 27: A Saudi Arabia-led coalition said on Monday that all parties need to return to the status that existed before the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen declared an emergency in Aden, according to a statement published by Spa.

The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, stresses the need to restore conditions to their previous state following the announcement of a state of emergency by the Southern Transitional Council and the consequential development of affairs in the interim capital (Aden) and some Southern governorates in the Republic of Yemen.

The Coalition urges for an immediate end to any steps contrary to the Riyadh Agreement, and work rapidly toward its implementation, citing the wide support for the agreement by the international community and the United Nations.

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 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 Coalition demands an end to any escalation and calls for return to the Agreement by the participating parties, stressing the immediate need for implementation without delay, and the need to prioritise the Yemeni peoples' interests above all else, as well as working to achieve the stated goals of restoring the state, ending the coup and combatting terrorist organizations.

The Coalition reaffirms its ongoing support to the legitimate Yemeni government, and its support for implementing the Riyadh Agreement, which entails forming a competent government that operate from the interim capital Aden to tackle economic and developmental challenges, in light of natural disasters such as floods, fears of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic outbreak, and work to provide services to the brotherly people of Yemen.

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