Saudi Arabia to intensify crackdown on illegal foreigners working in the country

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will take new steps, including jail terms for small business owners and the hiring of 1,000 inspectors, to crack down on foreigners working illegally in the world’s top oil exporter, Labour Minister Adel Al Fakieh said. “We have and will continue to have millions of foreign workers. We have 7.5 million legal foreign workers and we need them,” Al Fakieh told Saudi-owned MBC television this week, according to a... selengkapnya »

Wasim Akram: You have to go where life takes you

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach Wasim Akram is taking a break from the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year to spend more time with his family. He tells Gulf News he’s not sure if he’ll be back for 2014. The legendary Pakistan pacer is back in his home country as the Knight Riders tackle IPL 6, with veteran player Brett Lee filling in his backroom position in his stead. Akram, whose wife Huma died in 2009,... selengkapnya »

Saudi proposes plan to dig Strait of Hormuz bypass

Manama: A Saudi national has proposed digging a canal that would allow ships and tankers to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The canal, with a length of between 60 and 100 kilometres, would link the Arabian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and would end reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, said Sami Al Muhaidab. According to reports, an average of 14 tankers per day passed out of the Arabian Gulf through the Strait in 2011, carrying 17 million... selengkapnya »

Saudi youth jailed for brandishing firearm

Manama: A Saudi court has sentenced three young men to spend time in jail and to be lashed for brandishing a gun in public. Two defendants, including the son of a well-known businessman, were given 15 months in prison and 60 lashes, while the third was handed 24 months in jail and 50 lashes and was barred from leaving the country for two years afterwards, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Thursday. The lashes will be given out over... selengkapnya »

Syrian regime targeting civilians in air strikes

Beirut: Air strikes have hit bakeries and hospitals among other civilian targets in Syria, a watchdog reported Thursday, accusing the regime of killing thousands in such raids it said amounted to war crimes. “Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war wilfully — that is intentionally or recklessly — are responsible for war crimes,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report titled “Death from the Skies”. “Syrian... selengkapnya »

Congo soldier says he raped 53 women

Minova: In a small house on a hill overlooking Lake Kivu, a young Congolese army soldier recounts the crimes that he and his comrades committed in the town of Minova a few months ago. “Twenty-five of us gathered together and said we should rape 10 women each, and we did it,” he said. “I’ve raped 53 women. And children of five or six years old. “I didn’t rape because I am angry, but because it gave us a lot of pleasure,” says 22-year-old... selengkapnya »

Iran ex-nuclear negotiator runs for president

Tehran: A former Iranian nuclear negotiator announced on Thursday he would run for president, the most moderate contender so far to bid to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a June election dominated by conservatives. Hassan Rowhani, 64, was head of the powerful Supreme National Security Council under presidents Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, considered a master of realpolitik rather than an ideologue, and Mohammad Khatami, who pushed for wide-ranging... selengkapnya »

Israelis shoot ‘physically disabled’ Palestinian He was seriously wounded b

Hebron, West Bank: Israeli troops shot and wounded a physically disabled Palestinian man during an arrest operation in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, a prisoners’ rights group said. Motazz Obaidu, 32, was “seriously wounded by Israeli army gunfire during an arrest operation” at dawn, the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club said, describing him as “physically disabled” although it did not say how. Local residents... selengkapnya »

China bird flu live Twitter updates in contrast to outbreak 10 years ago

Shanghai: After a new and lethal strain of bird flu emerged in Shanghai two weeks ago, the government of China’s bustling financial capital responded with live updates on a Twitter-like microblog. It’s a starkly different approach than a decade ago, when Chinese officials silenced reporting as a deadly pneumonia later known as SARS killed dozens in the south. The contrast shows a new, though still evolving, openness in China that... selengkapnya »

Pakistan votes for overseas nationals a problem, Supreme Court told

Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday of multiple hurdles to giving overseas Pakistanis right to vote in the 2013 general election in the country. In a report submitted to the court, the ECP said it would be difficult to give voting right to non-resident nationals in the May 11 parliamentary elections. Voters have to register themselves at the concerned Pakistani diplomatic... selengkapnya »

India minister Vayalar Ravi to visit Saudi Arabia

New Delhi: Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi will visit Saudi Arabia to convey India’s apprehension about possible job losses to Indians due to implementation of a new labour drive — Nitaqat — in the nation that seeks to reserve 10 per cent jobs for nationals. The decision on Ravi’s visit to the country was taken after he discussed the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Ravi held a separate meeting with External... selengkapnya »

Pilgrims die as truck crashes into airport in Saudi Arabia

Jeddah: A service truck crashed into a passenger lounge at Jeddah international airport in Saudi Arabia, killing two Iranian pilgrims and injuring four others, reports said on Friday. The truck, driven by a Nepalese man, careered through the glass panes of the King Abdulaziz International Airport terminal on Thursday, the reports said, citing the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority. The Iranians had been waiting to board a flight to... selengkapnya »

Jordan says Saudi to free reform activist

Amman: Saudi authorities are to release a Jordanian reform activist held since the beginning of the year in a case that drew concern from human rights groups, the foreign ministry in Amman said Thursday. “Saudi authorities told us that Khalid Al Natur will return to Jordan, most likely on Sunday,” ministry spokesman Sabah Al Rifai said. Natur, a 27-year-old website developer and reform activist, was detained on January 6 when... selengkapnya »

Saudi Arabia may ban VOIP and messaging services

Dubai: The Saudi telecommunication regulator’s threat to ban voice-over-IP (VOIP) internet telephony services and mobile messaging services has evoked strong reactions from citizens and expatriate residents of the country. According to sources from local telecommunications companies, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) in the country has demanded that it be allowed to monitor encrypted applications, according... selengkapnya »

Saudi women allowed to ride bikes in public

Manama: Saudi women have been allowed to ride buggies and bikes in public after the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice lifted a ban on them. Under the new rules, women can use parks, esplanades and open desert... selengkapnya »

Saudi Arabia cracking down on foreign workers

Riyadh: Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia stayed away en masse from offices, stores and other workplaces on Monday as the government mounted a crackdown on illegal residents. Authorities in Saudi Arabia — the biggest labour market in the Gulf, and home to an estimated two million to three million illegal foreign workers - have raided office buildings and set up document checkpoints on main roads recently for workers here illegally,... selengkapnya »

India: No need to panic over labour policy

New Delhi: Amid worries that Saudi Arabia’s new ‘nitaqat’ policy, which seeks to reserve 10 per cent jobs for Saudis, would affect thousands of Indian workers in the kingdom, India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said there was “no need to panic” and the Indian government was ready to provide any assistance to affected Indian workers. “We are in touch [with the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia] and we will review... selengkapnya »

Thousands of Yemenis deported from Saudi Arabia

Sana’a: Saudi Arabia has begun deporting thousands of Yemeni labourers following new regulations requiring foreigners to work only for their sponsors, a Yemeni official said on Monday, a move that could “significantly damage” the poor country’s economy. Some two million of Yemen’s 25 million citizens work abroad, more than half of them in larger and richer neighbour Saudi Arabia. Remittances bring in $2 billion (Dh7.34 billion) a... selengkapnya »

Young Pakistanis disenchanted with democracy: Poll

Islamabad: A larger number of young Pakistanis believe the country should be governed by Islamic law or military rule rather than democracy, according to a survey released Wednesday. Pakistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on May 11 as the previous government completed its five-year term. But a survey by the British Council found that young Pakistanis — defined as those between the ages of 18 and 29 — have grown... selengkapnya »

Saudi man gets ‘paralysis’ sentence

Dubai: Human rights organisation Amnesty International appealed to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday not to carry out a reported sentence of paralysis for a man in retribution for allegedly paralysing another man 10 years ago. Ali Al Khawahir, 24, was reportedly sentenced to Qisas, or retribution, in the Eastern Province town of Al Ahsa and could be paralysed from waist down if he fails to pay compensation of one million riyals (Dh991,545),... selengkapnya »