Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday 1,197 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number to 16,299.

Meanwhile, 136 have died of the disease in the kingdom, after nine new deaths were reported, while the total recoveries have increased by 166 to 2,215, the health ministry tweeted.

A total of 115 are still in critical condition, the ministry's spokesman Mohammed Al-Abdulali told the daily press briefing. 

25 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is seeking to revive Saudi Arabia’s media image by launching a new TV news channel in the near future called Asharq, in cooperation with the US Bloomberg network, as well as launching a new look for Al Arabiya TV channel on Friday evenings.

25 April 2020; MEMO: The official Saudi Press Agency quoted a spokesman for the Riyadh-led coalition confirming that the unilateral ceasefire in Yemen has been extended for a month.

24 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is now a member of two key UN bodies following electronic elections held yesterday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has reported.

With the backing of UN member states, the Gulf Kingdom has acquired a seat on the Science and Technology Development Committee from next year until 2024, and another on the Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice between 2021 and 2023.

22 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi authorities have arrested eight members of the Al-Hwaiti tribe in the north-western town of Al-Khuraybah only days their relative and tribal leader Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti was shot dead for refusing to give up his home to make way for the kingdom’s NEOM mega-city project.

Al Jazeera reported witnesses as saying that authorities arrested eight members of the Al-Hwaiti tribe for refusing to give up their homes for the NEOM project.

RIYADH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Health ministers of the Group 20 (G20) reviewed on Sunday the importance of utilizing digital solutions in current and future pandemics.

During a virtual meeting, the officials discussed further coordinate efforts in combating COVID-19 and the role of digital solutions, a statement by the G20 Saudi Presidency highlighted.

The ministers stressed that people's health and well-being are at the heart of all decisions taken to protect lives and alleviate the socio-economic impacts resulting from the virus.

19 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is set to sell about 600,000 barrels of crude per day to the United States in April, which will be the highest volume in a year, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a Saudi industry official familiar with allocations to US refiners.

RIYADH, Apr 19 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia registered, on Saturday, 1,132 new COVID-19 cases, and 79 percent of them are expatriates, it was reported.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Mohammed Al-Abdulali, told the daily press briefing that, Mecca tops the affected cities with 315 cases, followed by Jeddah, 236, Riyadh, 225, Madinah, 186, and Dammam, 88.

The total infections in the country is 8,274 with 6,853 active cases undergoing medical treatment. There are 78 cases in critical conditions and the others are stable.

18 April 2020; MEMO: Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced on Friday that the mass trial of 68 Jordanians and Palestinians held by Saudi Arabia raises serious concerns about due process, amid charges of committing violations against the detainees.

RIYADH, Apr 18 (NNN-WAM) – The Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and President of the Council of Senior Scholars and General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Al-Sheikh, stated that, if it is impossible to perform Taraweh and Eid prayers in the mosques, because of the precautionary measures taken by the Saudi competent authorities, to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, then people will pray at their homes.