Ramadan raids net 2,200 illegal expats in Saudi

July 9, 2014

Ramadan raids

Madinah, Jul 9: Security officers in Saudi Arabia have arrested nearly 2,200 illegal foreign workers in Madinah and Hail and Baha this month for allegedly violating the country’s residency and labor regulations.

Madinah police arrested 884 Asian and African illegals during Ramadan following numerous inspection raids carried out at firms and establishments in the city.

Police in Madinah launched a crackdown on violators in cooperation with the Criminal Investigations Department, Special Task Force and Traffic Department, an official statement said, adding that the campaign is being supervised by Maj. Gen. Abdulhadi Al-Shahrani, Madinah region police director.

Security agencies in Hail, meanwhile, have arrested 305 violators during the last three days, said Col. Abdul Aziz Al-Zenaidi, Hail police spokesman.

“We have handed over the violators to authorities for punitive action,” he said. “We will continue our efforts to arrest labor law violators and residents without IDs throughout the region,” Al-Zenaidi said. In Baha, police have arrested more than 1,000 illegals.

In the meantime, Riyadh Municipality officials closed 23 restaurants in the capital for violating health regulations. They prevented 101 employees from working for not possessing health certificates and fulfilling hygienic conditions.

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Ramadan raids net 2,200 illegal expats in Saudi

Madinah, Jul 9: Security officers in Saudi Arabia have arrested nearly 2,200 illegal foreign workers in Madinah and Hail and Baha this month for allegedly violating the country’s residency and labor regulations.

Madinah police arrested 884 Asian and African illegals during Ramadan following numerous inspection raids carried out at firms and establishments in the city.

Police in Madinah launched a crackdown on violators in cooperation with the Criminal Investigations Department, Special Task Force and Traffic Department, an official statement said, adding that the campaign is being supervised by Maj. Gen. Abdulhadi Al-Shahrani, Madinah region police director.

Security agencies in Hail, meanwhile, have arrested 305 violators during the last three days, said Col. Abdul Aziz Al-Zenaidi, Hail police spokesman.

“We have handed over the violators to authorities for punitive action,” he said. “We will continue our efforts to arrest labor law violators and residents without IDs throughout the region,” Al-Zenaidi said. In Baha, police have arrested more than 1,000 illegals.

In the meantime, Riyadh Municipality officials closed 23 restaurants in the capital for violating health regulations. They prevented 101 employees from working for not possessing health certificates and fulfilling hygienic conditions.

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Agencies
July 19,2020

Occupied Jerusalem, Jul 19: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumed on Sunday.

Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals in which he is alleged to have received lavish gifts from billionaire friends and exchanged regulatory favors with media moguls for more agreeable coverage of himself and his family.

Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, painting the accusations as a media-orchestrated witchhunt pursued by a biased law enforcement system.

The trial opened in May. Just before appearing in front of the judges, Netanyahu took to a podium inside the courthouse and flanked by his party members bashed the country’s legal institutions in an angry tirade.

Netanyahu was not expected to appear at Sunday’s hearing, which is taking place at an occupied Jerusalem court and is mostly a procedural deliberation.

The trial resumes as Netanyahu faces widespread anger over his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

While the country appeared to have tamped down a first wave of infections, what’s emerged as a hasty and erratic reopening sent infections soaring. Yet even amid the rise in new cases Netanyahu and his emergency government — formed with the goal of dealing with the crisis — appeared to neglect the numbers and moved forward with other policy priorities and its reopening plans.

It has since paused them and even re-impose restrictions, including a weekend only lockdown set to begin later this week.

Netanyahu’s government has been criticized for a baffling, halting response to the new wave, which has seen daily cases rise to nearly 2,000. It has been slammed for its handling of the economic fallout of the crisis.

His trial thus comes at inopportune timing. Netanyahu had hoped to ride on the goodwill he gained from overcoming the first wave of infections going into his corruption trial, but the increasingly souring mood has affected his approval rating and may deny him the public backing he had hoped for. The anger has sparked protests over the past few weeks that have culminated in violent clashes with police.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Riyadh, Mar 6: Saudi Arabia on Thursday emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilisation over fears of the new coronavirus, an unprecedented shutdown state media said will last while the year-round Umrah pilgrimage is suspended.

The kingdom halted the pilgrimage for its own citizens and residents on Wednesday, on top of restrictions announced last week on foreign pilgrims to stop the disease from spreading.

State television relayed images of an empty white-tiled area surrounding the Kaaba -- a large black cube structure inside Mecca's Grand Mosque -- which is usually packed with tens of thousands of pilgrims.

As a "precautionary measure", the area will remain closed as long as the umrah suspension lasts but prayers will be allowed inside the mosque, state-run Saudi Press Agency cited a mosque official as saying.

Additionally, the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in the city of Medina will be closed an hour after the evening "Isha" prayer and will reopen an hour before the dawn "Fajr" prayer to allow cleaning and sterilisation, the official added.

A group of cleaners was seen scrubbing and mopping the tiles around the Kaaba, a structure draped in gold-embroidered gold cloth towards which Muslims around the world pray.

A Saudi official told news agency the decision to close the area was "unprecedented".

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia suspended the umrah for its own citizens and residents over fears of the coronavirus spreading to Islam's holiest cities.

The move came after authorities last week suspended visas for the umrah and barred citizens from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council from entering Mecca and Medina.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday declared three new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of reported infections to five.

The umrah, which refers to the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of year, attracts millions of Muslims from across the globe annually.

The decision to suspend the umrah mirrors a precautionary approach across the Gulf to cancel mass gatherings from concerts to sporting events.

It comes ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan starting in late April, which is a favoured period for pilgrimage.

It is unclear how the coronavirus will affect the hajj, due to start in late July.

Some 2.5 million faithful travelled to Saudi Arabia from across the world in 2019 to take part in the hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam as Muslim obligations are known.

The event is a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities, with colossal crowds cramming into relatively small holy sites, making attendees vulnerable to contagion.

Already reeling from slumping oil prices, the kingdom risks losing billions of dollars annually from religious tourism as it tightens access to the sites.

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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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