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Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Reforms And Reshuffles As New King Ascends To Saudi Throne

    Reforms And Reshuffles As New King Ascends To Saudi Throne

    RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman ordered a lavish payout to all state employees on Thursday and reshuffled some top government jobs while keeping in place the oil, foreign, finance, defense and interior ministers.

    The top oil exporter will pay two months of bonus salary to all state employees and pension to retired government workers, he said in a series of decrees read aloud on state television a week after Salman succeeded his brother Abdullah as king.

    He removed two of the late king’s sons from big jobs, making Faisal bin Bandar Riyadh governor instead of Turki bin Abdullah and reinstating Khaled al-Faisal as Mecca governor less than two years after he was replaced by Mishaal bin Abdullah.

    The two jobs are usually held by senior princes and have sometimes been stepping stones to higher positions.

    In a possible indication of Salman’s approach to social reform, he also replaced several top religious officials, removing two clerics known as comparative liberals who headed the Justice Ministry and Religious Police.

    He also appointed Mohammed Jadaan, a lawyer, as the new head of the Capital Market Authority, the state regulator for the stock market which will open to direct foreign participation later this year.

    He kept in place veteran Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The Labour, commerce, transport and economy and planning ministers were also kept unchanged.

    He appointed new ministers of agriculture, education and information and a new head of the intelligence services.

    He also merged the education ministry and higher education ministry and abolished the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals Affairs, replacing it with a new body, according to the text of a royal decree read out on state television.

    The king, who took power a week ago after Abdullah’s death early on Friday morning, also kept in place the late king’s son Miteb as Minister of the National Guard, an important strategic post.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Germany Ceases Arms Exports To Saudi Arabia Indefinitely Due To Political Instability After Death Of King Abdullah

    Germany Ceases Arms Exports To Saudi Arabia Indefinitely Due To Political Instability After Death Of King Abdullah

    BERLIN — Germany has decided to stop exporting arms to Saudi Arabia, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said today (Jan 25), citing government sources as saying the kingdom was “too unstable” for it to be receiving deliveries of weapons.

    The newspaper said Germany’s national security council, which holds its meetings in secrecy and is made up of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and seven other ministers, had made the decision on Wednesday.

    The German economy ministry declined to comment on the article and said it would publish its report on 2015 arms exports next year. But it added that would only include exports that had been approved, not those which had been declined.

    The council members all declined to approve arms export to Saudi Arabia or deferred their decision until further notice, Bild am Sonntag said.

    Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died on Friday and his successor, King Salman, takes charge at a time of uncertainty in the kingdom. The Middle East is in tumult and the Saudis are nervous about both Iranian influence and the spread of Islamist militants.

    In October, a document showed Germany’s national security council approved the export of arms to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the Middle East. Arms approved for Saudi Arabia included six weapons systems for testing and electronic surveillance equipment.

    In contrast, two-thirds of proposed arms export licenses were declined May 2014, according to media reports, including to Arab states.

    According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the world’s third-largest arms exporter from 2008-2012, behind the United States and Russia.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • King Abdullah Of Saudi Arabia Has Passed Away

    King Abdullah Of Saudi Arabia Has Passed Away

    RIYADH (AFP, REUTERS) – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, 90, died on Friday and Crown Prince Salman was named king, the royal court said in a statement on Friday.

    The late monarch’s half brother Moqren was named crown prince, according to the statement.

    Saudi television cut to Quranic verses early on Friday, which often signifies death of a senior royal.

    King Abdullah had been in hospital since December because of pneumonia.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Saudi Arabia Plans To Delay Public Flogging Of Saudi Rights Activist

    Saudi Arabia Plans To Delay Public Flogging Of Saudi Rights Activist

    DUBAI – Saudi Arabia plans to delay the public flogging of a rights activist on medical grounds, Amnesty International said on Thursday, raising the possibility that Riyadh may be trying to quietly drop the punishment that has drawn international rebuke.

    Badawi, a blogger and founder of the “Free Saudi Liberals” website, was sentenced last year to 10 years in jail, a fine of 1 million riyals ($267,000) and 1,000 lashes.

    He was arrested in June 2012 for offences which included of insulting Islam, cyber crime and disobeying his father – a crime in Saudi Arabia.

    Badawi was subjected to the first 50 lashes two weeks ago but a second round of flogging, scheduled to be held last Friday after Friday prayers was postponed, ostensibly on medical grounds.

    Amnesty International, in a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday, said Badawi’s planned flogging on Friday will be suspended again after a medical committee assessed that he should not undergo a second round of lashes on health grounds.

    “The committee, comprised of around eight doctors, carried out a series of tests on Raif Badawi at the King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah yesterday (Wednesday) and recommended that the flogging should not be carried out,” the statement said.

    Political stakes over Badawi’s case, which included a charge of insulting Islam, have been heightened by this month’s attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris and its subsequent publication of more cartoons lampooning Islam’s Prophet Mohammad.

    The United States had called on Riyadh to cancel the sentence of 1,000 lashes.

    Amnesty said Badawi was still at risk of flogging despite the medical report, and called on authorities to “publicly announce an end to his flogging”.

    “There is no way of knowing whether the Saudi Arabian authorities will disregard the medical advice and allow the flogging to go ahead.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • IS Tunjukkan Video Serangan Penyokong Di Saudi Arabia

    IS Tunjukkan Video Serangan Penyokong Di Saudi Arabia

    RIYADH: Sekumpulan penyokong militan yang menggelarkan kumpulan mereka Negara Islam di Iraq dan Syria (ISIS) mengeluarkan video semalam yang menunjukkan anggotanya menembak seorang warga Denmark di Arab Saudi minggu lalu, lapor badan pemantau SITE.

    Kesahihan video itu tidak dapat disahkan, namun Arab Saudi menyatakan seorang warga Denmark ditembak di bahu ketika sedang meninggalkan pejabatnya di Riyadh dan kini dalam keadaan mantap.

    Bulan lalu, Kementerian Dalam Negeri Arab Saudi menyatakan ia mengenal pasti sekurang-kurangnya 2,000 warganya yang mengunjungi Syria dan Iraq untuk menyertai militan ISIS, tetapi 600 daripada mereka sudah kembali dan berada dalam tahanan ataupun meninggal dunia.

    Pada awal bulan ini, militan Sunni yang dikaitkan dengan ISIS membunuh lapan pengikut Syiah di wilayah timur Arab Saudi.

    Sejak itu pihak berkuasa menahan lebih 70 orang yang disyaki ada kaitan dengan serangan tersebut.

    Pihak berkuasa Arab Saudi berkata mereka sedang menyiasat serangan ke atas warga Denmark itu.

    Menurut SITE, video itu dikeluarkan Yayasan Media Al-Battar, yang mendakwa ia menunjukkan operasi oleh ‘Penyokong Negara Islam (IS) di Tanah Dua Masjid Suci’, merujuk kepada nama yang digunakan kumpulan militan itu di Arab Saudi.

    Video itu turut mengandungi ucapan pemimpin ISIS, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, dan jurucakap kumpulan militan itu, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, yang menyeru rakyat Arab Saudi supaya “membunuh dan meludah” rakyat negara Barat yang terlibat dalam peperangan menangani militan ISIS.

    Video itu difilem daripada dalam sebuah kenderaan yang dipandu di sepanjang jalan raya berpapan tanda yang menunjukkan kejiranan Riyadh. – Reuters.

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg