World on high terror alert ahead of New Year

December 31, 2016

Jeddah, Dec 31: Security measures have been tightened in global capitals ahead of tonight’s New Year celebrations, amid heightened fears after a spate of terror attacks.

alert

Security experts said however the barricades, road closures and deployment of heavily armed police in many cities is more a show of force than an effective means to thwart an attack.

As the world ushers in 2017, security will be particularly tight in European cities, following the Daesh-linked truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people.

Around 1,700 extra officers, some carrying sub-machine guns, along with armored cars and concrete barriers will be among the anti-terror measures in Berlin, Reuters reported.

“Every measure is being taken to prevent a possible attack,” Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told Reuters TV.

Trucks have been banned from the centers of Rome and Naples, some 1,600 extra police will be out in force in Madrid, and extra surveillance cameras have been installed in Cologne in Western Germany, according to reports.

Other major global cities including New York, London and Sydney will also be increasing security measures.

But some cast doubt over the ability of officials to prevent against low-tech but fatal terror incidents such as the truck attack in Nice, France, on July 14, in which 86 people were killed.

Terrorism expert Lee Marsden, a professor at the University of East Anglia in the UK, said public concern was at a high following recent events in Europe.

But he said it was difficult to guard against the kind of terror attacks seen in Nice and Berlin.

“Now they’re just using cars and trucks to create as much mayhem as possible, people are getting understandably concerned about it. It’s very difficult for security forces to try to prevent any of these attacks,” Marsden told Arab News.

“These attacks have really thrown into question the ability of the state to protect its citizens. And therefore to try and reassure them they will have a massive show of force on the street. It doesn’t actually deal with the problem, but it will give people some reassurance no doubt.”

Marsden added, however, that the level of public fear was “out of all proportion” to the actual threat in many places.

“The chances of attacks are very very slight indeed,” he said.

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Agencies
March 23,2020

Riyadh, Mar 23: King Salman on Sunday issued an order imposing a curfew across Saudi Arabia from Monday evening to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

A royal court statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the curfew will start at 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. every day for 21 days from the evening of 28 Rajab 1441 in the Hijri calendar, equivalent to March 23, 2020 in the Gregorian calendar.

King Salman's order followed an announcement by the Health Ministry of 119 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, raising the total number in the Kingdom to 511.

The order enjoins citizens and residents alike to stay in their homes during the curfew hours for their own safety.

The statement said the Ministry of Interior will undertake the necessary measures to implement the curfew, and all civil and military authorities are ordered to cooperate fully.

Exclusions

A subsequent statement issued by the Ministry of Interior and carried by SPA said those excluded from the curfew are workers from the following vital industries and government services:

• Food sector (points of sale) such as catering and supermarkets And poultry and vegetable shops, meat, bakeries, food factories and laboratories;

• Health sector, such as pharmacies and the like, medical clinics (dispensaries), hospitals, laboratories, factories, factories and materials and medical devices;

• Media sector in its various means;

• Transportation sector, such as those transporting goods, parcels, customs clearance, warehouses, warehouses, logistics services, supply chains for the health sector, the food sector, and port operations;

• E-commerce activities such as those working in the electronic procurement applications for the excluded activities and those working in the delivery applications of the excluded activities;

• Accommodation services activities such as hotels and furnished apartments;

• Energy sector such as gas stations and emergency services for the electric company;

• Financial services and insurance sector, such as direct accidents (Najm), urgent health insurance services (approvals), and other insurance services;

• Telecom sector as Internet and communication network operators;

• Water sector, such as the water company emergency services and home drinking water delivery service (graying).

Additional exclusions

The Interior Ministry statement also said movement during the curfew time will be allowed for security, military and health cars, government regulatory services vehicles, and activity vehicles excluded in the vital industries and services mentioned above. 

Delivery services through smart device applications (express delivery services) during the curfew will be allowed for food and drug needs and other essential goods and services that are excluded and delivered to homes. Excluded activities can be known by calling the toll-free number in all regions of the Kingdom 999, except for the Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, which is called at 911.

Muezzins will be allowed to access mosques to lift the call to prayer at the time of the curfew.

Workers in diplomatic missions and international organizations and the like residing in the Diplomatic Quarter will be allowed to move during the curfew period to and from their business headquarters in the neighborhood.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Apr 20: Eight Indians, including two engineers, have died due to the novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, according to a media report on Sunday.

Mohammed Aslam Khan, an electrical engineer in Makkah, and Azmatullah Khan, an engineer at the Makkah Haram power station, have died due to the COVID-19, Saudi Gazette reported.

Aslam Khan, aged 51, who hailed from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, was admitted to King Faisal Hospital, Makkah on April 3, following worsening of his condition after being infected with fever and throat pain.

He had been on ventilator for more than two weeks and breathed his last on Saturday night, the paper said.

Khan is survived by wife and a daughter and a son. His wife and children are under self-imposed home quarantine.

Azmatullah Khan, from Telangana, died of coronavirus on Friday.

Mujeeb Pukkottoor, a prominent Indian social worker and general secretary of Makkah chapter of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, told the paper that the body of Khan was buried in Makkah on Sunday.

Khan, aged 65, had been working with Saudi Binladin Group for the last 32 years.

Fakre Alam, an employee at the Haram Project of Saudi Binladin Group in Makkah, died on Sunday due to infection, the paper said.

Barkt Ali Abdullatif Fakir, an electrical technician working in Medina, also died of coronavirus, it said.

According to the Saudi Ministry of Health’s daily report published on April 14, the number of coronavirus infected cases among workers of Saudi Binladin Group in various parts of the Kingdom stood at 117, and these included 70 cases in Makkah.

The first two Indian fatalities were reported from Medina and Riyadh earlier this month with the death of Shebnaz Pala Kandiyil (29) and Safvan Nadamal (41), both from Kerala.

Mohammed Sadiq, from Hyderabad, working in Jeddah and Suleman Sayyid Junaid (Maharashtra) are other Indians who died due to COVID-19 in the Gulf kingdom, the paper said.

Shebnaz from Panoor in Kannoor district died on April 3 and his body was buried in Medina on April 7. He came back to the Kingdom March 3 after his marriage in January.

Safvan, a taxi driver from Chemmad in Malappuram district, died on April 2 and was buried in Riyadh on April 8.

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Gulf News
April 12,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 12: In the backdrop of rising tide of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia on the social media, a company in Dubai sacked an employee from Hyderabad for his hate-filled posts on Facebook.

Bala Krishna Nakka from Hyderabad, who was working as Chief Accountant at Dubai’s Moro Hub Data Solutions Company, was sacked after his Facebook went viral evoking widespread condemnation. The man had posted images on his Facebook page which showed Muslims as suicide bombers wearing bombs in the form of coronavirus cells.

It triggered demands both on Facebook and Twitter for action against him. In a quick response the company announced that the person was being sacked from his job, as the company had zero tolerance towards hate propaganda.

Moro Hub said in a statement: “At Moro, we take a zero tolerance attitude to material that is or may be deemed Islamophoic or hate speech. The tweets that we have been alerted to do not, in any way, reflect Moro’s brand values.”

Since the outbreak of coronavirus in India, a more intense hate propaganda has been unleashed by right wing elements on social media targeting India’s Muslim minority, some of whom are based in Gulf region.

As both the mainstream media, especially Indian TV channels, as well as social media users, have unleashed a campaign linking the spread of virus to a Muslim missionary organisation, the Tableeghi Jamaat, in India, a fresh war of words has broken out on social media.

While some activists have taken up it on themselves to highlight the hate propaganda and draw the attention of employers to such hate mongers, the right wing social media handles have also launched their own counter-offensives against such activists.

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