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.
RIYADH, 1 February 2008 — A series of daytime robberies, attacks, car thefts and purse-snatchings committed by organized crime groups in certain areas of Riyadh have alarmed expatriates and citizens alike. “Even those working for media and government agencies are not safe,” said Mojib ibn Raza Siddiquee, whose car was stolen on Tuesday from the parking lot of his office. Siddiquee, who works for the Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), lodged a complaint with the local police.
Riyadh: A south African nurse, who has missing from Riyadh since November, has called her family from an undisclosed location in the Kingdom where she is supposedly being held. Dannelene Noach, 54, who had been working at a hospital in Riyadh for around seven years, went missing last year after blowing the whistle on alleged irregularities at the hospital where she worked.
General Electric Company (GE), the $173 billion diversified technology giant, will support Saudi Arabian Airline’s ambitious plan to launch overhaul services of engines, which will finally lead to the building of a new state-of-the art facility at the Jeddah-based king Abdul Aziz Airport within the next 18 months, Jaffrey R. Immelt, GE’s board chairman & chief executive officer, said here yesterday during a press conference.
RIYADH, 17 December 2007 — Municipal officials in Riyadh have instructed poultry sellers and restaurants not to sell ostrich meat following the discovery of bird flu among ostriches a couple of days ago. “Municipal inspectors are currently conducting raids on shops and dining outlets in Riyadh that sell ostrich birds and ostrich meat,” said Suliman Hamad Al-Buthi, chief of the Environmental Health Department at the municipality.
RIYADH,13 December 2007 — As part of an ambitious plan to enable Saudi nationals to own houses, a major Saudi financing company with a capital of SR2 billion has been launched. The company has started receiving applications from individuals interested in seeking loan facilities, announced Abdullatif Al-Shelash, managing director of the Saudi Home Loans Company (SHL), here yesterday.
RIYADH/ABHA, 26 November 2007 — Attempts to smuggle six truckloads of live birds into Riyadh during the last four days have been thwarted by the municipality. In the campaign against bird flu, the municipality also declared the city off-limits to vehicles carrying live birds. Several government agencies, including the ministries of agriculture and health, have intensified efforts to check the spread of the disease.