Riyadh wants NAM to reassess its peace role

June 3, 2014

Jeddah, June 3: The Cabinet has called on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to assess whether it is playing an effective role in the promotion of security and stability in the world.Prince Salman

The call was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Deputy Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Salman at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday.

The Kingdom had stressed this view at the Ministerial Conference of the 17th NAM meeting held in Algiers, said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja.

The NAM constitutes two thirds of the UN General Assembly membership. It is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries.

The Cabinet condemned the Israeli plan to establish a synagogue in East Jerusalem and build 50 housing units in the Mount Abu Ghneim settlement.

The Cabinet commended the signing of an MoU between the King Abdullah International Center for Inter-Religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue and the Unesco to promote the culture of dialogue to settle differences, Khoja said.

Prince Salman briefed the Cabinet on the discussions held by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah with King Mohammed VI of Morocco on greater cooperation between the two countries and the latest regional and international developments, Khoja said.

The Cabinet authorized Prince Salman to conclude a memorandum of understanding for defense cooperation with the Republic of Comoros.

The Cabinet also approved a general agreement of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Gabon, signed in Riyadh on Jan. 14, 2013, aimed at the promotion of economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries including the private sector.

The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Transport to discuss and sign with South Korea a draft agreement on cooperation in the field of maritime transport.

The Cabinet also ratified the appointments of Abdul Aziz Al-Quwaiz, Khaled Al-Rajhi and Saeed Garman as private sector members in the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) for a period of three years.

The other appointments approved by the Cabinet include Siraj Bakhurji as director general of water at the Ministry of Water and Electricity in the Eastern Province, Mansour Al-Suwaidan as management consultant at the Ministry of National Guard, and Ali Al-Salman as assistant undersecretary for central services at the Ministry of Finance.

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Agencies
June 28,2020

Kuwait, Jun 28: Measures imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in Kuwait are believed to have increased suicide cases in the country, according to a media report.

Forty suicide cases and 15 failed attempts, mainly among Asian expatriates, have been recorded in Kuwait since late February, Gulf News quoted the Al Qabas newspaper report, citing sources as saying on Saturday.

Investigations into the majority of cases have revealed that those who committed suicide had experienced psychological and economic troubles due to dire financial circumstances after their employers stopped to pay them as a result of economic fallout from the coronavirus-related measures.

In one case, an expat livestreamed his suicide while chatting with his fiancee on a social networking platform, the newspaper report said.

Suicide cases have increased by around 40 per cent since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, according to the sources.

Some 70 to 80 suicide cases are recorded annually in Kuwait. Last year, they reached 80 suicides against 77 in 2018.

"Suicide cases have started to go up in Kuwait during the coronavirus pandemic due to fear, anxiety, isolation and instability experienced by people and absence of daily aims that could help the person to spend time regularly as before," the newspaper quoted social psychology consultant Samira Al Dosari as saying.

Uncertainty for some expatriates, whose countries have refused to take them in, is another motive for attempting suicide, according to Jamil Al Muri, a sociology professor at the Kuwait University.

"This is in addition to greed of the iqamat traders, who have brought into the country workers in names of phantom companies and abandoned them on the streets," he added.

Starting from Tuesday, Kuwait will embark on the second phase of a stepwise plan to bring life to normal, Gulf News reportd.

According to Phase 2, a nationwide night-time curfew will be reduced by one hour to run daily from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. for three weeks.

Kuwait has so far reported 44,391 COVID-19 cases, with 344 deaths.

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Angry indian
 - 
Tuesday, 30 Jun 2020

YA ALLah save all dispressed people in the earth..

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 3,2020

Sharjah, Aug 3: A 24-year-old Indian engineer has fallen to death from the sixth floor of a residential building on Eid al-Adha in the UAE's Sharjah, a media report said on Monday. 

The electrical engineer, identified with his single name Sumesh, hailed from the south Indian state of Kerala.

He lived in a building in Al Dhaid in Sharjah, from where he fell to death on Friday, the report said, adding that he was apparently talking over the phone and threw it down minutes before the incident.

Sumesh, who came to the UAE a year ago, worked as a designer in Sharjah's Muwaileh area. His roommates said that he had some "personal issues" that had been "bothering him for some time", according to the report.

"It was Eid al-Adha and our cook had made biryani for us. We were all cracking jokes and having a good time. In fact, even Cuckoo (Sumesh) was also laughing with us. He seemed happy. Nobody had anticipated this. I did sense a few times that something was troubling him and I even asked him about it, but he brushed it off," the report quoted his roommate Dileep Kumar as saying.

Shans KF, another roommate, said Sumesh was to travel to India for his annual leave but could not because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The police have launched an investigation and moved the body to the forensic lab for an autopsy.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

Riyadh, May 31: Over 90,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia reopened their doors to worshippers on Sunday morning after over a two-month closure as part of an ease in the curfew restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The worshipers were allowed to enter the mosques, except the mosques in Makkah, from Fajr prayers today morning (Shawwal 8) with a limit of 40 per cent capacity.

The reopening of mosques was be undertaken in accordance with the guidance of Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullatif Al Asheikh, and in line with advice issued by the Senior Council of Ulemas.

The ministry has embarked on a vigorous media campaign to urge all worshippers to abide by preventive measures for their own safety to curb the spread of Covid-19.Among the instructions are doing ablution at home, hand-washing and using sanitisers before going out to the mosque and after coming back home.

On Saturday, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has approved opening the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah in stages to the public.

The elderly and those with chronic diseases are advised to perform their prayers at home. Reading and reciting the Holy Quran online is advised, too, from one's own mobile phone or at least reading from a privately owned copy of the Holy Quran.

Bringing one's prayer mat to perform prayers in mosques is highly recommended as well as keeping a two-metre distance between one another prayer.

Accompanying children under the age of 15 to the mosques is prohibited. Putting on a face mask and avoiding shaking hands and other contact is also recommended.

Meanwhile, the ministry managed, during the closure of mosques, to undertaking a massive cleaning, sanitising and maintenance drive in all mosques Kingdom-wide, according to world-class standards and best known practices. This included sanitising over 10 million mosques, 43 million copies of several sizes and volumes of the Quran, more than 600,000 Holy Quran cupboards, in addition to repairing and maintaining about 176,000

water closets, annexed to mosques.

 

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