Saudi Information Ministry launches array of new digital services

November 21, 2016

Riyadh, Nov 21: Minister of Culture and Information Adel Al-Toraifi on Sunday inaugurated six new electronic services for citizens and employees.

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The services use the latest developments in the field of information technology and ensure an efficient e-governance to better manage the ministry’s works and services, a senior official at the ministry said.

The new online services include the system for media licenses, for reporting media violations, for publication of books and printing materials, for advertisements in Umm Al-Qura (Official Gazette of Saudi Arabia), for events and exhibitions, and the ministry’s website and electronic applications.

The new e-system devised for media licenses targets all media licenses issued by the ministry including registration services for issuance of new and renewal of existing licenses.

The entire process will be monitored online from the time of application, and throughout the stages of document verification and approval. It will include an electronic payment system, if the license requires such, and then allow for the issuance of renewal of licenses electronically.

It will also include notices issued to beneficiaries through SMSs.

For the system for publication of books and printing materials, an electronic service will be offered to authors and publishing houses regarding the issuance of licenses for the publication of books and printed materials, their printing, and their distribution in the Kingdom.

The system allows beneficiaries to submit publications electronically, monitor comments of reviewers regarding such publications, and amend them, if required, and complete necessary procedures electronically for the issuance of printing permission.

The system for events and exhibitions allows for issuance of licenses for events held throughout the Kingdom, and contains all information and conditions that must be met.

The system also includes a group of procedures and electronic steps that must be followed, such as the notice and involvement of internal and external stakeholders.

Furthermore, it provides a platform for beneficiaries through which they can quickly and easily monitor requests, in addition to informational services to help in identifying requests and cases, without visiting the ministry’s building in person.

The system for reporting media violations is an electronic system that will allow for easy reporting of media violations. The report passes through a verification phase and correspondence is issued electronically to the plaintiff and the defendant regarding the report.

When all necessary evidence is provided, the report is transformed as a case to concerned committees.

The system also provides a number of services such as the provision of notices about dates of sessions and hearings, and a means for inquiring about feedback on cases and case information.

The new services on advertisements in Um Al-Qura include an electronic system for publishing government and private announcements, tenders and competitions, and provide an electronic payment option upon completion of necessary procedures and obtaining approval. Payment can be made through Sadad, if such a service requires payment.

With these new online services, the ministry’s website has completely been overhauled and updated to include all systems and applications, and to serve as reference for all the ministry’s news and activities.

The website also serves as an electronic reference for all the ministry’s regulations and regulations of the related authorities, while smartphone applications were enhanced and developed for iOS and Android operating systems.

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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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KT
April 14,2020

Dubai, Apr 14: Saudi Arabia reported 435 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5369, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.

According to the ministry of health the number of recoveries today are 84 cases, making total of recoveries in the kingdom 889.

The ministry also confirmed 8 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 73.

Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar. This week the curfew was extended until further notice.

Containment efforts
Saudi authorities are racing to contain an outbreak of coronavirus in the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

The total number of coronavirus cases reported in Mecca, home to 2 million people, reached 1,050 on Monday compared to 1,422 in the capital of Riyadh, a city more than three times the size. Mecca’s large number of undocumented immigrants and cramped housing for migrant workers have made it more difficult to slow the infection rate.

Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of infection in the region, with around 5,000 cases in a population of over 30 million.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Dubai/Washington, Jan 6: Tens of thousands of Iranians thronged the streets of Tehran on Monday for the funeral of Quds Force commander Qassim Suleimani who was killed in a US air strike last week and his daughter said his death would bring a "dark day" for the United States.

"Crazy Trump, don't think that everything is over with my father's martyrdom," Zeinab Suleimani said in her address broadcast on state television after US President Donald Trump ordered Friday's strike that killed the top Iranian general.

Iran has promised to avenge the killing of Qassim Suleimani, the architect of Iran's drive to extend its influence across the region and a national hero among many Iranians, even many of those who did not consider themselves devoted supporters of the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers.

The scale of the crowds in Tehran shown on television mirrored the masses that gathered in 1989 for the funeral of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In response to Iran's warnings, Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites, including cultural targets, if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets, deepening a crisis that has heightened fears of a major Middle East conflagration.

The coffins of the Iranian general and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in Friday's attack on Baghdad airport, were passed across the heads of mourners massed in central Tehran, many of them chanting "Death to America".

One of the Islamic Republic's major regional goals, namely to drive US forces out of neighbouring Iraq, came a step closer on Sunday when the Iraqi parliament backed a recommendation by the prime minister for all foreign troops to be ordered out.

"Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically," said Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who resigned in November amid anti-government protests.

Iraq's rival Shi'ite leaders, including ones opposed to Iranian influence, have united since Friday's attack in calling for the expulsion of US troops.

Esmail Qaani, the new head of the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards' unit in charge of activities abroad, said Iran would continue Suleimani's path and said "the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region."

ALLIES AT FUNERAL

Prayers at Suleimani's funeral in Tehran, which will later move to his southern home city of Kerman, were led by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Suleimani was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran behind Khamenei.

The funeral was attended by some of Iran's allies in the region, including Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Palestinian group Hamas who said: "I declare that the martyred commander Suleimani is a martyr of Jerusalem."

Adding to tensions, Iran said it was taking another step back from commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, a pact from which the United States withdrew in 2018.

Washington has since imposed tough sanctions on Iran, describing its policy as "maximum pressure" and saying it wanted to drive down Iranian oil exports - the main source of government revenues - to zero.

Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Washington from Florida on Sunday, Trump stood by his remarks to include cultural sites on his list of potential targets, despite drawing criticism from US politicians.

"They're allowed to kill our people. They're allowed to torture and maim our people. They're allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn't work that way," Trump said.

Democratic critics of the Republican president have said Trump was reckless in authorizing the strike, and some said his comments about targeting cultural sites amounted to threats to commit war crimes. Many asked why Soleimani, long seen as a threat by US authorities, had to be killed now.

Republicans in the US Congress have generally backed Trump's move.

Trump also threatened sanctions against Iraq and said that if US troops were required to leave the country, Iraq's government would have to pay Washington for the cost of a "very extraordinarily expensive" air base there.

He said if Iraq asked US forces to leave on an unfriendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."

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