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Low-cost Haj quota upped from 41,000 to 50,000

April 28, 2015

Jeddah, Apr 28: Fifty thousand domestic pilgrims will benefit from the government’s low-cost Haj service this year, said Saad Al-Qurashi, chairman of the Haj and Umrah Committee at Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Monday.

Haj quota“There will be seven categories in the low-cost Haj service with prices ranging between SR3,000 and SR5,000,” Al-Qurashi told Arab News. During the past three years, the number of pilgrims benefiting from the service increased from 17,000 in 2013 to 41,000 in 2014 and 50,000 in 2015, he said.

The ministry will start accepting applications from domestic Haj service providers on Wednesday and from low-cost Haj service agencies on Thursday. The names of companies qualified for low-cost service would be announced at 1 p.m. on the same day, said Al-Qurashi.

The ministry also disclosed plans for early allocation of tents in Mina for agencies serving domestic pilgrims on the basis of performance rate they achieved during the past Haj season. “We will inform companies about the result of tent allocation through SMS and the ministry’s website,” a ministry official said. “We have allocated 17 tents for low-cost pilgrims,” he pointed out. Low-cost Haj services will be available for SR5,000, SR4,800, SR4,400, SR4,150, SR3,900, SR3,500 and SR3,000 depending on the services and facilities.

Al-Qurashi spelled out plans to establish a Haj support service company with a capital of SR150 million. “This company will be first of its kind and to be formed by owners of 60 domestic Haj service firms,” Al-Qurashi said, adding that it would provide transport and catering services. He said domestic pilgrims would require about 30,000 seats on Saudia flights.

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Agencies
May 22,2020

Riyadh, May 22: The family of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday said that they forgave his killers. Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had written columns critical of Saudi Arabia, was brutally killed in October 2018, allegedly at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

“In this blessed night of the blessed month [of Ramadan] we remember God’s saying: If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah,” Jamal Khashoggi’s son Salah Khashoggi said in a tweet. “Therefore, we the sons of the Martyr Jamal Khashoggi announce that we pardon those who killed our father, seeking reward [from] God almighty.”

The legal outcome of this announcement is not yet clear. Earlier, Salah Khashoggi said he had “full confidence” in the judicial system, and that the accused were trying to exploit the case.

Jamal Khashoggi’s body was said to have been dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and disposed of elsewhere, but his remains were never found.

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Ankara, Apr 2: Saudi Arabia on Thursday declared a 24-hour lockdown in all parts of Makkah and Medina cities as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

"The 24-hour curfew will be imposed in all parts of the cities of Makkah and Medina, with a ban on entry and exit from both cities," the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Twitter.

The lockdown starts from Thursday “until further notice.”

All commercial activities inside the residential neighborhoods of the two cities were also prohibited, except for pharmacies, food products stores, gas stations and banking services, the ministry said.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 180 countries and regions, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Its data shows the number of confirmed cases worldwide have surpassed 962,900, with the death toll over 49,100 and more than 202,700 recoveries.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Beirut, Aug 7: A devastating explosion that destroyed much of Beirut might have been the result of a missile attack or bomb, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said, as the death toll from the blast rose to 154.

More than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been sitting in a port warehouse for six years, but there have been conflicting accounts about why Lebanese authorities decided to empty the shipment of explosive material. The vessel carrying the flammable cargo was heading from Georgia to Mozambique when it stopped in the Lebanese port to load up on iron, according to the ship’s captain.

By Friday, 19 suspects had been arrested and Lebanon’s former director general of customs Chafic Merhy had been questioned by military police.

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