RIYADH: An Asian housemaid was allegedly gang-raped by four men, including her employer, and then abandoned at her country’s embassy here earlier this week. “The maid was raped by four people at the house of her Saudi employer,” said an embassy official, who asked his name and that of his embassy not be published. “The embassy is following the case seriously to ensure arrests of the rapists,” he added.
RIYADH: Capt. Hanadi Zakaria Al-Hindi, the first Saudi woman pilot, has returned to Makkah following an operation in the UK after being diagnosed with a kidney illness.
RIYADH, 13 June 2008 — In a move to boost its regional presence and ensure wider coverage of the Kingdom, The Associated Press has opened a multimedia news bureau in Riyadh and appointed veteran Middle East correspondent Donna Abu-Nasr as bureau chief. Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president and executive editor, arrived here from New York to attend the opening ceremony.
RIYADH, 24 May 2007 — Taking its exclusive offerings to new heights, American Express (Saudi Arabia) Limited launched an innovative national campaign for its cardmembers that entitles two grand prize winners a trip to outer space with thrill and enjoyment. This is the first promotion of its kind ever held in Saudi Arabia, where Amex has enrolled a large number of cardholders and expanded its existing merchant network substantially.
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.