RIYADH, 14 May 2008 — More than 55 foreign medical workers in Riyadh have not been paid their salaries for several months and are now “on the verge of starvation.” To add to their problems, the local Labor Court has scheduled a hearing into their case for July. “These workers have been sponsored by the Riyadh-based Nukhba House for Medical Services and are on the verge of starvation now,” said Abid Lateef Khan, a Pakistani medical technician who has not been paid his salary for six months.
RIYADH, 15 April 2008 — Left-wing Greek arsonists bombed a diplomatic car belonging to the Saudi Embassy in Athens yesterday, causing extensive damage but no injuries. George Kyriakopoulof, spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Riyadh, said the attack in a suburb near central Athens had nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. “It was a sheer act of vandalism, targeting foreigners or cars with diplomatic green plates in the Greek capital,” he said.
RIYADH, 6 April 2008 — Seventeen-year-old Canadian Sultan Kohail was sentenced to one year in prison and 200 lashes by a court in Jeddah yesterday in a much-publicized schoolyard brawl case in which Sultan’s elder brother Mohammed Kohail was sentenced to be beheaded last month.
“We must not allow freedom of speech to be used as a cover to insult religion,” said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the OIC, speaking on the sidelines of a high-profile three-day dialogue between Japan and the Islamic world, which concluded Tuesday.
RIYADH, 10 March 2008 — A South African nurse who has been missing since November has been found imprisoned in a Saudi jail and is expected to return to her country within the next few days. Dannelene Noach disappeared after allegedly discovering corruption at the hospital where she worked. “The South African Embassy has managed to trace the nurse, and the mission is rendering all consular support to her,” said South African Ambassador John Davies.
RIYADH, 6 March 2008 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah inaugurated the 23rd National Heritage and Culture Festival at Janadriya, 45 kilometers north of Riyadh, yesterday.
RIYADH, 5 March 2008 — A Canadian citizen who has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court will appeal the verdict. “The case will undergo an appeals process,” Andrea Meyer, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Embassy, said here yesterday. “We are very concerned about the death penalty handed down to Mohammed Kohail, 23, from the Canadian city of Montreal.” Kohail was convicted of killing an 18-year-old student in a schoolyard brawl in Jeddah in January 2007. Meyer said the embassy has had regular consular access to Kohail and his imprisoned brother Sultan.
RIYADH, 4 March 2008 — The Kingdom has tightened rules for Saudi nationals. Saudi nationals will now require approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before Pakistani visas are endorsed on their passports, said Pakistani Ambassador Shahid Karimullah, who was speaking during a high-profile meeting of Saudi and Pakistani businessmen here Sunday night.
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has announced plans to set up an autonomous international translation center with a mandate to translate references, textbooks, international literature and scientific materials to be used by individuals as well as local and international institutions. The proposed center will also help bridge the gap between Arab and Western cultures, boost the process of Arabization and also address the problems of shortage of translators and interpreters.
RIYADH, 5 February 2008 — A group of 10 diplomats and employees, including the ambassador, from the Saudi Embassy in the Chadian capital N’Djamena was expected to arrive here in the next 24 hours after they were airlifted by a French military aircraft from an airbase in the war-torn African country yesterday.