Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced for 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes in 2014 &nbsp;on charge of &nbsp;insulting Islam through electronic channels, may face new round of lashes, a co-founder of a Canadian foundation advocating his release said on Tuesday, reported Reuters.&nbsp;

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Evelyne Abitbol, who founded the Raif Badawi Foundation with Badawi&#39;s wife, has claimed that a &quot;reliable source&quot; in Saudi Arabia said that the imprisoned Saudi blogger may face a new flogging.

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Badawi&#39;s public flogging last year triggered a global outcry, the international news agency reported. &nbsp;Reuters, however, pointed out that Saudi embassy officials in Ottawa and Saudi government officials in Riyadh were not immediately available for comment.

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&quot;Unfortunately, it could happen at any time, if it happens,&quot; Abitbol told Reuters on phone in Montreal adding&nbsp;that the he could not name the source but it was the same person who alerted Badawi`s wife, Ensaf Haidar, in 2015 before he received his first 50 lashes, the only part of the flogging that was reportedly administered.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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&quot;We are trying to have the most accurate information possible, because if this information is true, it would be shameful. Canada completely condemns this type of lashing,&quot; Canada`s foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion &nbsp;was quoted as saying by Reuters.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Badawi, the &nbsp;Saudi Arabian writer and activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, &nbsp;was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by European Parliament last December. &#39;Courage Award 2015 from the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy&#39;, &#39;Aikenhead Award 2015 of Scottish Secular Society&#39; , &#39;Netizen Prize of Reporters without Borders 2014&#39;, are among the other awards he has been awarded.&nbsp;

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He has also penned a book, 1000 Lashes, Because I Say What I Think, where he talks about the shocking sentence, human and civil rights, tolerance and the necessary separation of state and religion.

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Several rights groups&nbsp;including Amnesty International have voiced concern over the severe punishment and have been raising voice for his release.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

(WION with inputs from Reuters)&nbsp; 
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Badawi was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes in 2014 for breaking the kingdom's technology laws and insulting Islam

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced for 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes in 2014 on charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels, may face new round of lashes, a co-founder of a Canadian foundation advocating his release said on Tuesday, reported Reuters. Evelyne Abitbol, who founded the Raif Badawi Foundation with Badawi's wife, has claimed that a "reliable source" in Saudi Arabia said that the imprisoned Saudi blogger may face a new flogging. Badawi's public flogging last year triggered a global outcry, the international news agency reported. Reuters, however, pointed out that Saudi embassy officials in Ottawa and Saudi government officials in Riyadh were not immediately available for comment. × × "Unfortunately, it could happen at any time, if it happens," Abitbol told Reuters on phone in Montreal adding that the he could not name the source but it was the same person who alerted Badawi`s wife, Ensaf Haidar, in 2015 before he received his first 50 lashes, the only part of the flogging that was reportedly administered. "We are trying to have the most accurate information possible, because if this information is true, it would be shameful. Canada completely condemns this type of lashing," Canada`s foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion was quoted as saying by Reuters. Badawi, the Saudi Arabian writer and activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals, was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by European Parliament last December. 'Courage Award 2015 from the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy', 'Aikenhead Award 2015 of Scottish Secular Society' , 'Netizen Prize of Reporters without Borders 2014', are among the other awards he has been awarded. He has also penned a book, 1000 Lashes, Because I Say What I Think, where he talks about the shocking sentence, human and civil rights, tolerance and the necessary separation of state and religion. Several rights groups including Amnesty International have voiced concern over the severe punishment and have been raising voice for his release. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi likely to be given more lashes in prison

Saudi government workers will be paid according to the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic Hijri calendar, making the working month longer as part of cost-cutting measures, local media reported today.&nbsp;

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The change, approved by cabinet last week, brings civil service pay in line with the government&#39;s January-December fiscal year, the Arab News and Saudi Gazette reported.&nbsp;

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The reports said the latest austerity measure took effect on October 1.

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Saudi Arabia, the world&#39;s biggest oil exporter, is cutting government spending and re-orienting its economy after a collapse over the past two years of the global oil price which provided most of its revenue.

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The Hijri calender consists of 12 months of 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the moon, meaning the Islamic year is several days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used in the world.

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<h5>Saudi Arabia, the world&#39;s biggest oil exporter, is cutting government spending and re-orienting its economy after a collapse over the past two years of the global oil price which provided most of its revenue.</h5>
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Last week, cabinet also cut by 20 per cent the salaries of ministers and froze the wages of lower-ranked civil servants.

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Almost twice as many Saudis are employed in the bloated public sector -where hours are shorter and leave longer - than in private firms.

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In April, the king&#39;s son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced the wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy.

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Among its goals, Vision 2030 aims to boost private sector employment, cutting the government payroll to 40 per cent of the budget from 45 per cent by 2020.

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(AFP)

The austerity measure aims to pay lower salaries to civil servants by making working months longer

Saudi government workers will be paid according to the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic Hijri calendar, making the working month longer as part of cost-cutting measures, local media reported today. The change, approved by cabinet last week, brings civil service pay in line with the government's January-December fiscal year, the Arab News and Saudi Gazette reported. The reports said the latest austerity measure took effect on October 1. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is cutting government spending and re-orienting its economy after a collapse over the past two years of the global oil price which provided most of its revenue. The Hijri calender consists of 12 months of 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the moon, meaning the Islamic year is several days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used in the world. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is cutting government spending and re-orienting its economy after a collapse over the past two years of the global oil price which provided most of its revenue. × Last week, cabinet also cut by 20 per cent the salaries of ministers and froze the wages of lower-ranked civil servants. Almost twice as many Saudis are employed in the bloated public sector -where hours are shorter and leave longer - than in private firms. In April, the king's son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced the wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy. Among its goals, Vision 2030 aims to boost private sector employment, cutting the government payroll to 40 per cent of the budget from 45 per cent by 2020. (AFP)

Economics trumps religion: Saudi Arabia drops Islamic calendar

Condemning Saudi Arabia&#39;s legal practices, a UN human rights watchdog on Friday called on the Arab nation to end its &quot;severe&quot; discrimination against girls.&nbsp;

After reviewing the kingdom&#39;s record of compliance with a UN treaty protecting the rights of people under the age of 18, the body asked it repeal laws that allow the stoning, amputation, flogging and execution of children.&nbsp;

Children over 15 years are tried as adults and can be executed, &quot;after trials falling short of guarantees of due process and a fair trial&quot;, the report said.&nbsp;

The 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed deep concern that Riyadh &quot;still does not recognise girls as full subjects of rights and continues to severely discriminate (against) them in law and practice and to impose on them a system of male guardianship&quot;.

In response, leader of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, Bandar Bin Mohammed Al-Aiban said the kingdom had the political will to protect children&#39;s rights but the Islamic sharia law was above all laws and treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The experts pressed Saudi authorities to &quot;unambiguously prohibit the use of solitary confinement, life sentences on children and child attendance of public execution&quot;.

All forms of sexual abuse against children should be a crime and perpetrators prosecuted, the experts added.&nbsp;

They reported persistent discrimination against children of Shiite Muslim families and other religious minorities, deploring the use of traditional, religious and cultural attitudes to justify violations of their rights.&nbsp;

Out of 47 people executed on January 2, 2016 - the biggest mass execution for security offences in decades, that included a prominent Shiite cleric, at least four were under 18 when sentenced to death, it said.

The committee also condemned the Saudi-led coalition&#39;s air strikes in Yemen, which it said had killed and maimed hundreds of children, and its &quot;use of starvation&quot; as a tactic in that war against Iran-backed Houthis.

(WION with inputs from Reuters) 
&nbsp;

The experts said Riyadh 'still does not recognise girls as full subjects of rights and continues to severely discriminate them'

Condemning Saudi Arabia's legal practices, a UN human rights watchdog on Friday called on the Arab nation to end its "severe" discrimination against girls. After reviewing the kingdom's record of compliance with a UN treaty protecting the rights of people under the age of 18, the body asked it repeal laws that allow the stoning, amputation, flogging and execution of children. Children over 15 years are tried as adults and can be executed, "after trials falling short of guarantees of due process and a fair trial", the report said. The 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed deep concern that Riyadh "still does not recognise girls as full subjects of rights and continues to severely discriminate (against) them in law and practice and to impose on them a system of male guardianship". In response, leader of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, Bandar Bin Mohammed Al-Aiban said the kingdom had the political will to protect children's rights but the Islamic sharia law was above all laws and treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The experts pressed Saudi authorities to "unambiguously prohibit the use of solitary confinement, life sentences on children and child attendance of public execution". All forms of sexual abuse against children should be a crime and perpetrators prosecuted, the experts added. They reported persistent discrimination against children of Shiite Muslim families and other religious minorities, deploring the use of traditional, religious and cultural attitudes to justify violations of their rights. Out of 47 people executed on January 2, 2016 - the biggest mass execution for security offences in decades, that included a prominent Shiite cleric, at least four were under 18 when sentenced to death, it said. The committee also condemned the Saudi-led coalition's air strikes in Yemen, which it said had killed and maimed hundreds of children, and its "use of starvation" as a tactic in that war against Iran-backed Houthis. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

UN committee tells Saudi Arabia to repeal laws allowing child stonings, executions

If the world is looking at Canada, it&rsquo;s because of Prime Minister Trudeau&rsquo;s heart and hair. He&rsquo;s photogenic, which critics take as proof he&#39;s a selfie-taking cerebral lightweight (as if Stephen Harper fended&nbsp;off Vanity Fair photographers). Critics&nbsp;also mock&nbsp;Trudeau&#39;s pathologically progressive PR (handshaking Syrian refugees at the airport, proclaiming himself a feminist, etc) as affected or&nbsp;mawkish. Yet&nbsp;however cultivated&nbsp;Trudeau&#39;s&nbsp;media image is, it does&nbsp;seem to accurately reflect him as a person. Probably nobody&nbsp;thinks&nbsp;Trudeau is secretly a woman-hating xenophobe.&nbsp; 
 
In an era where political campaigns are essentially advertising contests, should a serious person&nbsp;ignore a politician&#39;s chosen&nbsp;symbols? No. While it&#39;s&nbsp;definitely calculated, the symbolism&nbsp;a politician selects for mass appeal&nbsp;does reveal a lot, and does have intrinsic value. 
 
Internationally, Trudeau&rsquo;s aura is a meaningful breath of fresh air to millions of Indians tired of rancid patriarchy and caste oppression, or Modi speaking twee platitudes from one side of his mouth and strident <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/133014/new-face-india-anti-gandhi">hindutva</a> from the other. Or to anybody tired and terrified of Trump. As leaders around the world tack right by appealing to lizard-brain paranoia, it&rsquo;s understandable and meaningful that people are inspired by a symbolic counterbalance. 
 
Policy matters above all, not talk or imagery. But no doubt Canada&rsquo;s Muslims prefer that the Prime Minister doesn&rsquo;t dog whistle at them (<a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/10/05/stephen-harpers-dog-whistle-populist-politics.html">like Canada&rsquo;s thrice-elected last Prime Minister</a>). The marginalised shouldn&rsquo;t be spat on by the person most capable of improving their lives. Politics of division from the top <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/11/23/Muslim-Assaults-Canada/">breeds</a>&nbsp;violence. If inclusive branding does absolutely nothing but ensure the absence of that, that&rsquo;s something.&nbsp; 
 
But there&rsquo;s a limit. Liberals believe in their ideals until they&rsquo;re faced with a choice, to embody them or make a lot of money.&nbsp; 
 
For all Trudeau&rsquo;s outsized display of heart he presides over a government selling $15-billion worth of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, the generous sponsor of&nbsp;terrorists and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/analyses/wahhabism.html">radical Wahhabi madrassas</a> around the world. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/19432753795_234e50aa59_b-20160915124053.jpg" />

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Trudeau enjoying a gay pride parade in Toronto, very much&nbsp;not in Riyadh.
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Trudeau commendably supports the LGBT community whereas Saudi Arabia sometimes stones them to death, but rather than condemn the House of Saud he is weaponizing them. The Canadian-made &ldquo;jeeps&rdquo; will be mounted with machine guns, and possibly anti-tank missiles. The <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-saudi-arms-deal-what-weve-learned-so-far/article28180299/">well-founded fear</a> is they will be used against dissenting Saudi civilians. Saudi Arabia is currenly targeting civilian infrastructure in <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/crimes-against-humanity-britains-complicity-in-saudi-arabias-terror-campaign-against-yemen/5545686">Yemen</a>, also. This makes arming Saudi Arabia not just unethical but likely illegal under Canada&rsquo;s weapons export laws. It&rsquo;s worth considering that a Saudi Arabian&nbsp;openly expressing Trudeau&#39;s views in&nbsp;may be at risk of the Canadian-made weapons Trudeau&#39;s party signed off on. (Or just a&nbsp;public <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/world/middleeast/raif-badawi-wife-saudi-arabia.html">lashing</a>, if he&#39;s lucky.) 
 
The deal was brokered by Canada&rsquo;s Conservative Party, who crowed about job creation (as if arming violent foes is honourable, if a Canadian is paid to do it). But Trudeau&rsquo;s Liberals opted not to cancel it. That they didn&rsquo;t initiate the deal gives the Liberals undeserved plausible deniability. Each party is blaming the other for a human right&rsquo;s travesty, and they&rsquo;re both right. 
 
The Canadian tradition of speaking from the left and governing from the right is on display in Trudeau&rsquo;s attitude to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP). The TPP, if ratified, would be the biggest &ldquo;free trade&rdquo; deal in history, but international trade is only a minor part of it. Corporations don&#39;t like being beholden to&nbsp;international law, so the TPP lets them rewrite it. Negotiations have been conducted in secret since 2010 (thankfully there have been <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/final-leaked-tpp-text-all-we-feared">leaks</a>). In addition to impacting 18,000 tariffs, the deal includes measures to punish corporate whistleblowers, needlessly restrict copyright and intellectual property laws, and enable companies to sue governments if their social spending cuts into their market. The TPP only exists so that the profits of major corporations will legally supersede the public interest in court. 
&nbsp;

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<h5>Either ideological TPP proponents are naive and gullible enough to believe that CEOs and politicians secretly met for five years to discuss how best to uplift the middle class and impoverished.</h5>

<h5>Or, the people praising the TPP are the&nbsp;very people who stand to profit by it, and they&nbsp;know the game is rigged because they supervised or participated in the rigging.&nbsp;</h5>
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During Canada&rsquo;s 2015 election Trudeau was officially non-committal to the TPP, unwilling to hastily sign an unknown thing. On becoming Prime Minister he hastily signed an unknown thing. Now he says he won&rsquo;t ratify it, that being hasty.&nbsp; 
 
Nobody, including Trudeau, has adequately explained why the onus is on the public to demonstrate what parts of the TPP are objectionable, rather than why it&rsquo;s being thrust on the people in the first place. To the extent leaders are talking about the TPP at all, their justifications are dubious; jobs and the economies of twelve countries can&rsquo;t all simultaneously grow. It&rsquo;s a zero-sum game, something has to give. In physics, every action has an opposite and equal reaction.&nbsp;Only in the junk science of free trade deals does everything constantly expand without an&nbsp;eventual correction. NAFTA promised the US 200,000 jobs, and ended up <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/trans-pacific-partnership-obama-fast-track-nafta/">costing over 600,000</a> in the manufacturing sector alone.&nbsp; 
 
Either ideological TPP proponents are naive and gullible enough to believe that CEOs and politicians secretly met for five years to discuss how best to uplift the middle class and impoverished. Or, the people praising the TPP are the&nbsp;very people who stand to profit by it, and they&nbsp;know the game is rigged because they supervised or participated in the rigging.&nbsp; 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/trudeaunatives2-20160915013114.jpg" />

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Trudeau has worked to repair relationships with Canada&#39;s Natives. How he reconciles&nbsp;their interests and environmental stewardship&nbsp;with proposed pipelines&nbsp;will be watched closely.
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To be sure, even if Trudeau resolved to stop selling the Saudis arms and halt the TPP, he&rsquo;s a small cog international politics. All national leaders&nbsp;are surrounded by vulture lobbyists and purchased bureaucrats, who collectively decide things. For example, how Trudeau will reconcile the competing pressure to build pipelines with his pledge to protect the environment and improve relations with aboriginal people remains to be seen, but <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/tough-calls-ahead-for-trudeau-on-aboriginal-issues/article31913955/">early signs</a> lean towards big oil.&nbsp;Nobody should expect Trudeau to singlehandedly shape Canada, let alone the world.

In late September his cabinet approved the construction of a $11.4 billion (Canadian Dollars) terminal to <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/pacific-northwest-lng-decision/article32092033/">export liquefied natural gas</a>&nbsp;that has angered environmentalists&nbsp;and Canadian Aboriginal groups. The project has certain&nbsp;environmental conditions attached, to be named in time, but&nbsp;what they are and&nbsp;whether they&#39;re actually upheld remains to be seen. His image will take a beating if his base thinks his&nbsp;environmental, energy and economic juggling&nbsp;errs&nbsp;too much on the side of business. 
 
But it isn&rsquo;t that his sunshiney&nbsp;symbols are meaningless, just they have limits. Assuming any politician is authentically fond of&nbsp;the environment&nbsp;and opposed to militarisation or&nbsp;obscene concentrations of wealth,&nbsp;they&#39;re still pretty powerless against Big Business. Trudeau fits in here.

So while critics find&nbsp;his ostentatious shows of&nbsp;pluralism&nbsp;corny,&nbsp;at least they&#39;re not&nbsp;just&nbsp;fashionable masks for bigotry.&nbsp;The world needs more leaders who aren&rsquo;t preprogrammed to whip up and then appeal to caveman instincts.&nbsp;Just nobody should think his theater for social, environmental or&nbsp;economic justice will translate into policy that adequately addresses, let alone fixes, the biggest problems facing the world. 
 
(WION)

His sincere and heartening political messaging can be meaningful, but it doesn't stand up to military contracts or Big Business

If the world is looking at Canada, it’s because of Prime Minister Trudeau’s heart and hair. He’s photogenic, which critics take as proof he's a selfie-taking cerebral lightweight (as if Stephen Harper fended off Vanity Fair photographers). Critics also mock Trudeau's pathologically progressive PR (handshaking Syrian refugees at the airport, proclaiming himself a feminist, etc) as affected or mawkish. Yet however cultivated Trudeau's media image is, it does seem to accurately reflect him as a person. Probably nobody thinks Trudeau is secretly a woman-hating xenophobe. In an era where political campaigns are essentially advertising contests, should a serious person ignore a politician's chosen symbols? No. While it's definitely calculated, the symbolism a politician selects for mass appeal does reveal a lot, and does have intrinsic value. Internationally, Trudeau’s aura is a meaningful breath of fresh air to millions of Indians tired of rancid patriarchy and caste oppression, or Modi speaking twee platitudes from one side of his mouth and strident hindutva from the other. Or to anybody tired and terrified of Trump. As leaders around the world tack right by appealing to lizard-brain paranoia, it’s understandable and meaningful that people are inspired by a symbolic counterbalance. Policy matters above all, not talk or imagery. But no doubt Canada’s Muslims prefer that the Prime Minister doesn’t dog whistle at them (like Canada’s thrice-elected last Prime Minister). The marginalised shouldn’t be spat on by the person most capable of improving their lives. Politics of division from the top breeds violence. If inclusive branding does absolutely nothing but ensure the absence of that, that’s something. But there’s a limit. Liberals believe in their ideals until they’re faced with a choice, to embody them or make a lot of money. For all Trudeau’s outsized display of heart he presides over a government selling $15-billion worth of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, the generous sponsor of terrorists and radical Wahhabi madrassas around the world. Trudeau enjoying a gay pride parade in Toronto, very much not in Riyadh. Trudeau commendably supports the LGBT community whereas Saudi Arabia sometimes stones them to death, but rather than condemn the House of Saud he is weaponizing them. The Canadian-made “jeeps” will be mounted with machine guns, and possibly anti-tank missiles. The well-founded fear is they will be used against dissenting Saudi civilians. Saudi Arabia is currenly targeting civilian infrastructure in Yemen, also. This makes arming Saudi Arabia not just unethical but likely illegal under Canada’s weapons export laws. It’s worth considering that a Saudi Arabian openly expressing Trudeau's views in may be at risk of the Canadian-made weapons Trudeau's party signed off on. (Or just a public lashing, if he's lucky.) The deal was brokered by Canada’s Conservative Party, who crowed about job creation (as if arming violent foes is honourable, if a Canadian is paid to do it). But Trudeau’s Liberals opted not to cancel it. That they didn’t initiate the deal gives the Liberals undeserved plausible deniability. Each party is blaming the other for a human right’s travesty, and they’re both right. The Canadian tradition of speaking from the left and governing from the right is on display in Trudeau’s attitude to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP). The TPP, if ratified, would be the biggest “free trade” deal in history, but international trade is only a minor part of it. Corporations don't like being beholden to international law, so the TPP lets them rewrite it. Negotiations have been conducted in secret since 2010 (thankfully there have been leaks). In addition to impacting 18,000 tariffs, the deal includes measures to punish corporate whistleblowers, needlessly restrict copyright and intellectual property laws, and enable companies to sue governments if their social spending cuts into their market. The TPP only exists so that the profits of major corporations will legally supersede the public interest in court. Either ideological TPP proponents are naive and gullible enough to believe that CEOs and politicians secretly met for five years to discuss how best to uplift the middle class and impoverished. Or, the people praising the TPP are the very people who stand to profit by it, and they know the game is rigged because they supervised or participated in the rigging. During Canada’s 2015 election Trudeau was officially non-committal to the TPP, unwilling to hastily sign an unknown thing. On becoming Prime Minister he hastily signed an unknown thing. Now he says he won’t ratify it, that being hasty. Nobody, including Trudeau, has adequately explained why the onus is on the public to demonstrate what parts of the TPP are objectionable, rather than why it’s being thrust on the people in the first place. To the extent leaders are talking about the TPP at all, their justifications are dubious; jobs and the economies of twelve countries can’t all simultaneously grow. It’s a zero-sum game, something has to give. In physics, every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Only in the junk science of free trade deals does everything constantly expand without an eventual correction. NAFTA promised the US 200,000 jobs, and ended up costing over 600,000 in the manufacturing sector alone. Either ideological TPP proponents are naive and gullible enough to believe that CEOs and politicians secretly met for five years to discuss how best to uplift the middle class and impoverished. Or, the people praising the TPP are the very people who stand to profit by it, and they know the game is rigged because they supervised or participated in the rigging. Trudeau has worked to repair relationships with Canada's Natives. How he reconciles their interests and environmental stewardship with proposed pipelines will be watched closely. To be sure, even if Trudeau resolved to stop selling the Saudis arms and halt the TPP, he’s a small cog international politics. All national leaders are surrounded by vulture lobbyists and purchased bureaucrats, who collectively decide things. For example, how Trudeau will reconcile the competing pressure to build pipelines with his pledge to protect the environment and improve relations with aboriginal people remains to be seen, but early signs lean towards big oil. Nobody should expect Trudeau to singlehandedly shape Canada, let alone the world. In late September his cabinet approved the construction of a $11.4 billion (Canadian Dollars) terminal to export liquefied natural gas that has angered environmentalists and Canadian Aboriginal groups. The project has certain environmental conditions attached, to be named in time, but what they are and whether they're actually upheld remains to be seen. His image will take a beating if his base thinks his environmental, energy and economic juggling errs too much on the side of business. But it isn’t that his sunshiney symbols are meaningless, just they have limits. Assuming any politician is authentically fond of the environment and opposed to militarisation or obscene concentrations of wealth, they're still pretty powerless against Big Business. Trudeau fits in here. So while critics find his ostentatious shows of pluralism corny, at least they're not just fashionable masks for bigotry. The world needs more leaders who aren’t preprogrammed to whip up and then appeal to caveman instincts. Just nobody should think his theater for social, environmental or economic justice will translate into policy that adequately addresses, let alone fixes, the biggest problems facing the world. (WION)

Canada's Justin Trudeau: Liberal signs and symbols

Saudi Arabia has warned of &#39;disastrous consequences&#39; after the Unites States Congress voted to &nbsp;override Obama&#39;s veto on a 9/11 bill which would now allow families of victims to sue the kingdom for damages.

The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) allows families of people killed in the September 11 terror attack to pursue cases against foreign governments in US federal court. They can also demand compensation if any government is found to be guilty.

A Saudi foreign ministry source on Thursday called on the US Congress &quot;to take the necessary measures to counter the disastrous and dangerous consequences&quot; of the law, AFP reported.

The unnamed spokesman, cited by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the law is &quot;a source of great worry.&quot;

The weakening of the soverign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States, the country&#39;s foreign ministrty said in a statement

The bill would expose the United States to lawsuits over its military missions from abroad, President Obama said.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest called the Senate vote &quot;the single most embarrassing thing&quot; the legislative body has done in decades, AFP reported.

Analysts earlier Thursday warned that Saudi Arabia could reduce valuable security and intelligence cooperation with longstanding ally Washington after the Congressional &quot;stab in the back.&quot;

&quot;I&#39;m afraid that this bill will have dire strategic implications&quot; for the United States, Salman al-Ansari, head of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), told AFP.

The Saudi government has denied any links to the 9/11 attack. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

(WION with inputs from agencies)

The warning came after the US Congress voted to override President Barack Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act

Saudi Arabia has warned of 'disastrous consequences' after the Unites States Congress voted to override Obama's veto on a 9/11 bill which would now allow families of victims to sue the kingdom for damages. The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) allows families of people killed in the September 11 terror attack to pursue cases against foreign governments in US federal court. They can also demand compensation if any government is found to be guilty. A Saudi foreign ministry source on Thursday called on the US Congress "to take the necessary measures to counter the disastrous and dangerous consequences" of the law, AFP reported. The unnamed spokesman, cited by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the law is "a source of great worry." The weakening of the soverign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States, the country's foreign ministrty said in a statement The bill would expose the United States to lawsuits over its military missions from abroad, President Obama said. White House press secretary Josh Earnest called the Senate vote "the single most embarrassing thing" the legislative body has done in decades, AFP reported. Analysts earlier Thursday warned that Saudi Arabia could reduce valuable security and intelligence cooperation with longstanding ally Washington after the Congressional "stab in the back." "I'm afraid that this bill will have dire strategic implications" for the United States, Salman al-Ansari, head of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), told AFP. The Saudi government has denied any links to the 9/11 attack. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Saudi Arabia warns of 'disastrous consequences' over US 9/11 law

Thousands of Saudis have signed an online petition calling for an end to the government&#39;s oppressive guardian system under which women cannot study, travel or engage in other fundamental activities without permission from a male guardian &mdash; typically the woman&#39;s father, brother or husband.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Women should be treated as a full citizen. She should be able to decide the age where she will be an adult and will be responsible for her own acts,&rdquo; campaigner and activist Aziza Al-Yousef said.&nbsp;

So far, about 14,700 people have signed the petition which will be sent by mail to the kingdom&#39;s Royal Court on Monday, Al-Yousef told AFP.

Under the Saudi law,&nbsp;which imposes the world&#39;s tightest restrictions on women, &nbsp;the guardian has control over a woman&#39;s marriage, study and travel plans. At times, women are forced to serve longer sentences in prison if they are not received by a male &quot;guardian&quot;&nbsp;on their release.&nbsp;

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, many employers ask for guardian&#39;s consent before hiring women, despite the government having disallowed the practice. &nbsp;

Men endorse the petition

A lot of men have endorsed the petition seeking an end to the system that requires them to sign consent forms.

While many open-minded male members readily give the consent, they find it tedious to formally complete the papers, Al-Yousef said.

&ldquo;Many men find signing consent papers a waste of time,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;

Newspaper columnist Abdullah Al-Alweet backed activists&#39; claim who said that Islam does not allow men to control women.&nbsp;

&quot;How can an illiterate father become the guardian of a highly educated woman?&quot; he asked in a Saudi Gazette column, AFP reported.&nbsp;

To boost female employment by allowing them to enter the workforce, the country came up with a plan to reduce the country&#39;s dependency on oil by 2030. The guardian system, as activists claim, does not help the goal.&nbsp;

The National Transformation Programme (NTP) has set the target for an increase in women&#39;s workforce from 23 per cent to 28 per cent by 2020, AFP reported.&nbsp;

#IamMyOwnGuardian

Al-Yousef and activists started a protest movement to end the guardian system five years ago. The movement gained momentum after the Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report fiercely condemning the system.&nbsp;

It was the report that gave birth to the #IamMyOwnGuardian Twitter hashtag two months ago.&nbsp;

&quot;Saudi Arabia&#39;s male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women&#39;s rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade,&quot; the watchdog said.

(WION with inputs from AFP)

Under the system, women canot study, travel or engage in other fundamental activities without permission from a male guardian

Thousands of Saudis have signed an online petition calling for an end to the government's oppressive guardian system under which women cannot study, travel or engage in other fundamental activities without permission from a male guardian — typically the woman's father, brother or husband. “Women should be treated as a full citizen. She should be able to decide the age where she will be an adult and will be responsible for her own acts,” campaigner and activist Aziza Al-Yousef said. So far, about 14,700 people have signed the petition which will be sent by mail to the kingdom's Royal Court on Monday, Al-Yousef told AFP. Under the Saudi law, which imposes the world's tightest restrictions on women, the guardian has control over a woman's marriage, study and travel plans. At times, women are forced to serve longer sentences in prison if they are not received by a male "guardian" on their release. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, many employers ask for guardian's consent before hiring women, despite the government having disallowed the practice. Men endorse the petition A lot of men have endorsed the petition seeking an end to the system that requires them to sign consent forms. While many open-minded male members readily give the consent, they find it tedious to formally complete the papers, Al-Yousef said. “Many men find signing consent papers a waste of time,” he added. Newspaper columnist Abdullah Al-Alweet backed activists' claim who said that Islam does not allow men to control women. "How can an illiterate father become the guardian of a highly educated woman?" he asked in a Saudi Gazette column, AFP reported. To boost female employment by allowing them to enter the workforce, the country came up with a plan to reduce the country's dependency on oil by 2030. The guardian system, as activists claim, does not help the goal. The National Transformation Programme (NTP) has set the target for an increase in women's workforce from 23 per cent to 28 per cent by 2020, AFP reported. #IamMyOwnGuardian Al-Yousef and activists started a protest movement to end the guardian system five years ago. The movement gained momentum after the Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report fiercely condemning the system. It was the report that gave birth to the #IamMyOwnGuardian Twitter hashtag two months ago. "Saudi Arabia's male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women's rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade," the watchdog said. (WION with inputs from AFP)

Thousands of Saudis sign petition to end male guardianship of women

The White House said on Monday that US &nbsp;President Barack Obama would veto the bill allowing victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families to sue the Saudi government for damages.&nbsp; 
 
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that the President does intend to veto the legislation. 
 
The bill will allow Americans to file lawsuits against any foreign governments suspected of backing terrorism against America.&nbsp; 
 
The legislation is strongly opposed by Saudi Arabia which is home to 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 terror attacks. 
 
He said the bill could be used as an excuse to haul US diplomats or US service members or even US companies into courts all around the world. 
 
&quot;You could have judges at different levels in different courtrooms, reaching different conclusions about the same country. That is not an effective, forceful way for us to respond to terrorism,&quot; Earnest said. 
 
Earnest added that the bill endangers the concept of sovereign immunity that protects the United States as much as any other country in the world.&nbsp; 
 
Earnest anticipated a wider international reaction to the bill. He said, &quot;So the President feels quite strongly about this. Our concern is not limited to the impact it could have on a relationship with one country, but rather it could have an impact on our relationship with every country around the world in a way that has negative consequences for the US, for our national security, and for our men and women in uniform.&quot; 
 
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act was passed in the House of Representatives by a voice vote on Friday,&nbsp; 
 
It had earlier found unanimous approval in the Senate in May. The Senate sent the bill for President&#39;s approval on Monday night, giving him a 10-day window to veto the decision.&nbsp; 
 
But even if Obama vetos the bill, Congressional aides said the measure appeared to have enough support to override his decision.&nbsp; 
 
A two-thirds majority in both the Senate and House is required for lawmakers to override an Obama veto for the first time since he took office in January 2009. 
 
Under the Constitution, Obama could also opt for a &quot;pocket veto,&quot; in which the president can defeat a bill just by holding onto it until Congress is out of session. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp;

The White House said the bill is a forceful way to respond to terrorism and could have a far-reaching impact

The White House said on Monday that US President Barack Obama would veto the bill allowing victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families to sue the Saudi government for damages. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that the President does intend to veto the legislation. The bill will allow Americans to file lawsuits against any foreign governments suspected of backing terrorism against America. The legislation is strongly opposed by Saudi Arabia which is home to 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 terror attacks. He said the bill could be used as an excuse to haul US diplomats or US service members or even US companies into courts all around the world. "You could have judges at different levels in different courtrooms, reaching different conclusions about the same country. That is not an effective, forceful way for us to respond to terrorism," Earnest said. Earnest added that the bill endangers the concept of sovereign immunity that protects the United States as much as any other country in the world. Earnest anticipated a wider international reaction to the bill. He said, "So the President feels quite strongly about this. Our concern is not limited to the impact it could have on a relationship with one country, but rather it could have an impact on our relationship with every country around the world in a way that has negative consequences for the US, for our national security, and for our men and women in uniform." The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act was passed in the House of Representatives by a voice vote on Friday, It had earlier found unanimous approval in the Senate in May. The Senate sent the bill for President's approval on Monday night, giving him a 10-day window to veto the decision. But even if Obama vetos the bill, Congressional aides said the measure appeared to have enough support to override his decision. A two-thirds majority in both the Senate and House is required for lawmakers to override an Obama veto for the first time since he took office in January 2009. Under the Constitution, Obama could also opt for a "pocket veto," in which the president can defeat a bill just by holding onto it until Congress is out of session. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Obama will veto bill allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia: White House

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its efforts to guard Islam&#39;s holiest sites as the annual Haj pilgrimage enters its final stages. 
 
In an effort to avoid a repeat of last year&#39;s devastating stampede, the Saudi authorities have redesigned parts of the Jamarat area and deployed drones to watch over nearly two million pilgrims.&nbsp; 
 
The faithful descended Mount Arafat on Sunday, climbing down the craggy hills outside Mecca at sunset and set out en masse for the open plateau of Muzdalifah. 
 
There they collected pebbles in the dark before retreating for the night into Mina, the narrow city of air-conditioned white tents where last year&#39;s crush occurred. 
 
The Saudi government has spent billions of dollars upgrading the security apparatus, expanding infrastructure and crowd control technology.&nbsp; 
 
Drones are being used to reinforce a network of electronic surveillance of the crowds that would alert authorities to intervene quickly if necessary. 
 
The frequent disasters at the holy site have led to an escalating war of words with Iran.&nbsp; 
 
Iran supreme leader had accused the Saudi authorities of the deaths of over 2,000 pilgrims last year.&nbsp; 
 
Pilgrims of Iran are not attending the pilgrimage this year over safety concerns.&nbsp; 
 
But Saudi government had suggested part of the blame lied with the pilgrims that failed to follow crowd control rules.&nbsp; 
 
An investigation into last year&#39;s disaster is still pending.&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp;

Saudi government has spent billions of dollars to upgrade the security and crowd control technology at Mecca

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its efforts to guard Islam's holiest sites as the annual Haj pilgrimage enters its final stages. In an effort to avoid a repeat of last year's devastating stampede, the Saudi authorities have redesigned parts of the Jamarat area and deployed drones to watch over nearly two million pilgrims. The faithful descended Mount Arafat on Sunday, climbing down the craggy hills outside Mecca at sunset and set out en masse for the open plateau of Muzdalifah. There they collected pebbles in the dark before retreating for the night into Mina, the narrow city of air-conditioned white tents where last year's crush occurred. The Saudi government has spent billions of dollars upgrading the security apparatus, expanding infrastructure and crowd control technology. Drones are being used to reinforce a network of electronic surveillance of the crowds that would alert authorities to intervene quickly if necessary. The frequent disasters at the holy site have led to an escalating war of words with Iran. Iran supreme leader had accused the Saudi authorities of the deaths of over 2,000 pilgrims last year. Pilgrims of Iran are not attending the pilgrimage this year over safety concerns. But Saudi government had suggested part of the blame lied with the pilgrims that failed to follow crowd control rules. An investigation into last year's disaster is still pending. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Saudi Arabia deploys drones to watch over Haj pilgrims

Undeterred by a stampede that killed about &nbsp;2,300 people last year, about 1.5 million Muslims from Asia, Africa and points in between, begin the annual hajj in western Saudi Arabia today, AFP reported.&nbsp; 
 
The city of Mecca receives 20 million visitors annually, but around three million pilgrims of a religion, that has around 1.5 billion followers worldwide, visit the city during the annual pilgrimage. 
 
This year, however, tens of thousands of Iranians are absent because of long-running tensions between their Shiite nation and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. The tensions have increased between the two countries after last year&#39;s stampede killed 464 Iranian pilgrims, according to AFP. &nbsp; 
 
 
Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam&nbsp; 
 
The pilgrims will complete preliminary rituals in Mecca at the Grand Mosque first and will start moving today, taking buses, trains or even on foot to Mina, about five kilometres east.&nbsp; 
 
During hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims retrace the footsteps of Prophet Mohammed who performed the same rituals about 1,400 years ago. 
 
Traditionally, the first day of Hajj offers a chance for the pilgrims to give water to their animals and store water. The pilgrims then proceed to Mount Arafat, for the peak of Hajj.&nbsp; 
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They then proceed to Mina, where white fireproof tents are set up for shelter. The tents can accommodate 2.6 million people.&nbsp; 
 
Mina becomes their base, where an expanse of white fireproof tents can accommodate 2.6 million pilgrims. 
 
Hajj to boost economy 
 
Ossama Fadhul al Bar, mayor of Mecca, has said large crowds will benefit the economy. 
 
&quot;For the state, the Hajj is a cost center, but for the private sector, it&#39;s a profit center. On an average, two million pilgrims contribute 17 billion dollars to the housing sector, 200 million to transportation and about 1.2 billion to the food and beverage sector. It&#39;s a season that has a huge impact on the city&#39;s economy.&quot; 
 
The kingdom also has an ambitious plan to expand the holy mosques, widen roads, and build trains and other transport infrastructure.&nbsp; 
 
The first phase is expected to cost 120 billion Dollars, reports Reuters. 
 
Till now the Mosque has been expanded from 300,000 to 1.5 million square metres. Its capacity has increased from 600,000 worshippers to two million. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Due to long-running tensions between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, thousands of Iranians will be absent this year

Undeterred by a stampede that killed about 2,300 people last year, about 1.5 million Muslims from Asia, Africa and points in between, begin the annual hajj in western Saudi Arabia today, AFP reported. The city of Mecca receives 20 million visitors annually, but around three million pilgrims of a religion, that has around 1.5 billion followers worldwide, visit the city during the annual pilgrimage. This year, however, tens of thousands of Iranians are absent because of long-running tensions between their Shiite nation and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. The tensions have increased between the two countries after last year's stampede killed 464 Iranian pilgrims, according to AFP. Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam The pilgrims will complete preliminary rituals in Mecca at the Grand Mosque first and will start moving today, taking buses, trains or even on foot to Mina, about five kilometres east. During hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims retrace the footsteps of Prophet Mohammed who performed the same rituals about 1,400 years ago. Traditionally, the first day of Hajj offers a chance for the pilgrims to give water to their animals and store water. The pilgrims then proceed to Mount Arafat, for the peak of Hajj. During hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims retrace the footsteps of Prophet Mohammed who performed the same rituals about 1,400 years ago. They then proceed to Mina, where white fireproof tents are set up for shelter. The tents can accommodate 2.6 million people. Mina becomes their base, where an expanse of white fireproof tents can accommodate 2.6 million pilgrims. Hajj to boost economy Ossama Fadhul al Bar, mayor of Mecca, has said large crowds will benefit the economy. "For the state, the Hajj is a cost center, but for the private sector, it's a profit center. On an average, two million pilgrims contribute 17 billion dollars to the housing sector, 200 million to transportation and about 1.2 billion to the food and beverage sector. It's a season that has a huge impact on the city's economy." The kingdom also has an ambitious plan to expand the holy mosques, widen roads, and build trains and other transport infrastructure. The first phase is expected to cost 120 billion Dollars, reports Reuters. Till now the Mosque has been expanded from 300,000 to 1.5 million square metres. Its capacity has increased from 600,000 worshippers to two million. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Nearly 1.5 million Muslims begin annual haj in Saudi Arabia's Mecca

Migrant construction workers, abandoned in their thousands by Saudi employers in filthy desert camps during the kingdom&#39;s economic slump, say they will not accept a government offer of free flights home unless they receive months of unpaid wages. 
 
The plight of the workers, stranded for months in crowded dormitories at labour camps with little money and limited access to food, water or medical care, has alarmed their home countries and drawn unwelcome attention to the conditions of some of the 10 million foreign workers on whom the Saudi economy depends. 
 
The government says it is trying to resolve the situation by giving the workers, who normally need their employers&#39; permission to leave the country, the right to go home and free transport back. It is also granting them special permission to stay while they look for other jobs. 
 
But workers say they fear that if they leave they will end up with nothing at all. 
 
&quot;We will wait here, one year, two years. We will wait for our money. Then we will go back,&quot; said Sardar Naseer, 35, a Pakistani welder at the Qadisiya Labour Camp, which houses around 2,000 workers from construction conglomerate Saudi Oger. 
 
Naseer says he is owed 22,000 Riyals ($5,900) after receiving no wages for eight months. Workers at the camp, about 20 km (13 miles) from the centre of Riyadh, said they had stopped work about four months ago and none had been paid since January. 
 
Oger, the family firm of billionaire former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The Hariri family did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. 
 
In July, Oger stopped providing food, electricity, maintenance and medical services at several of its camps including Qadisiyah, prompting the Saudi Labour Ministry to take over the&nbsp;provision of basic services there, men at the camp said. 
 
They sleep six to eight to a tiny room, with stray cats and cockroaches lingering on torn bedsheets. They sit on the floor to eat food rations provided by the Labour Ministry or their embassies. 
 
There is no regular supply of clean drinking water, a filter on a public water fountain meant to be changed daily has not been serviced in a year, so they are forced to buy bottled water with their own money. 
 
Saudi Oger, which employs some 30,000 workers, has built mega-projects including Riyadh&#39;s palatial 500-room Ritz Carlton hotel and all-female Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University. 
 
It is one of Saudi Arabia&#39;s two most prominent construction companies, along with the Saudi Binladin Group. Both have faced financial difficulties as the world&#39;s biggest oil exporter has suffered from the fall in the price of crude. 
 
Construction projects have been halted or slowed and revenue has fallen. As the salary delays have worsened, frustrated workers have in some cases staged rare public protests. 
 
Countries including India, Pakistan and the Philippines have sent senior officials to Riyadh to press authorities to assist their workers. Indian officials said this month that more than 6,200 former Indian employees of Oger were stranded in Saudi camps after being laid off and owed wages. 
 
Two weeks ago, after Indian authorities raised their concerns, King Salman set aside 100 million riyals of government money to help the stranded workers, mostly from Pakistan, India, the Philippines and Bangladesh. 
 
Saudi Labour Minister Mufrej al-Haqbani told Reuters on Wednesday that several distressed local firms, including Saudi Binladin Group, had now started paying overdue wages. Binladin executives promised him that payments would be completed by September, he said. 
 
Oger is the only company still broadly withholding payments, and the Labour Ministry will press foreigners&#39; wage claims through the kingdom&#39;s labour dispute system, Haqbani said, without specifying when claims might be resolved. 
 
&quot;Saudi Oger - now we&rsquo;ll take it to the courts. Now we are responsible for that. We&rsquo;ve hired lawyers,&quot; he said. &quot;As the ministry, we will go through the labour dispute courts to go after Saudi Oger and to collect the claims.&quot; 
 
He also said the troubles at Oger were not a sign of problems with Saudi Arabia&#39;s overall employment of foreign workers, most of whom were choosing to remain in the country. 
 
&ldquo;This is a small segment...of the labour market. We have more than 10 million expats working happily here in the country. When a company like Saudi Oger fails to comply with the rules, this will never destroy the good image of our labour market.&rdquo; 
 
Philippines Secretary of Labour Silvestre Bello, who visited Riyadh for talks with Haqbani this week, said that with the assistance of Saudi authorities, about 1,000 Filipino workers could be sent home by mid-September. 
 
At the camp, Mohammed Niaz, 42, said his two daughters back in Pakistan had stopped attending school because he could no longer send money home for fees. 
 
&quot;I&#39;m wasting my time. I want to go to Pakistan,&quot; he said. 
 
But he added that he refused to leave Saudi Arabia without the 13,000 riyals which Oger owed him. &quot;My family has no money. My daughters are out of school. How can I go to Pakistan?&quot; 
 
(Reuters) 
&nbsp;

India, Pakistan and the Philippines have sent senior officials to Riyadh to press authorities to assist their workers

Migrant construction workers, abandoned in their thousands by Saudi employers in filthy desert camps during the kingdom's economic slump, say they will not accept a government offer of free flights home unless they receive months of unpaid wages. The plight of the workers, stranded for months in crowded dormitories at labour camps with little money and limited access to food, water or medical care, has alarmed their home countries and drawn unwelcome attention to the conditions of some of the 10 million foreign workers on whom the Saudi economy depends. The government says it is trying to resolve the situation by giving the workers, who normally need their employers' permission to leave the country, the right to go home and free transport back. It is also granting them special permission to stay while they look for other jobs. But workers say they fear that if they leave they will end up with nothing at all. "We will wait here, one year, two years. We will wait for our money. Then we will go back," said Sardar Naseer, 35, a Pakistani welder at the Qadisiya Labour Camp, which houses around 2,000 workers from construction conglomerate Saudi Oger. Naseer says he is owed 22,000 Riyals ($5,900) after receiving no wages for eight months. Workers at the camp, about 20 km (13 miles) from the centre of Riyadh, said they had stopped work about four months ago and none had been paid since January. Oger, the family firm of billionaire former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The Hariri family did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment. In July, Oger stopped providing food, electricity, maintenance and medical services at several of its camps including Qadisiyah, prompting the Saudi Labour Ministry to take over the provision of basic services there, men at the camp said. They sleep six to eight to a tiny room, with stray cats and cockroaches lingering on torn bedsheets. They sit on the floor to eat food rations provided by the Labour Ministry or their embassies. There is no regular supply of clean drinking water, a filter on a public water fountain meant to be changed daily has not been serviced in a year, so they are forced to buy bottled water with their own money. Saudi Oger, which employs some 30,000 workers, has built mega-projects including Riyadh's palatial 500-room Ritz Carlton hotel and all-female Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University. It is one of Saudi Arabia's two most prominent construction companies, along with the Saudi Binladin Group. Both have faced financial difficulties as the world's biggest oil exporter has suffered from the fall in the price of crude. Construction projects have been halted or slowed and revenue has fallen. As the salary delays have worsened, frustrated workers have in some cases staged rare public protests. Countries including India, Pakistan and the Philippines have sent senior officials to Riyadh to press authorities to assist their workers. Indian officials said this month that more than 6,200 former Indian employees of Oger were stranded in Saudi camps after being laid off and owed wages. Two weeks ago, after Indian authorities raised their concerns, King Salman set aside 100 million riyals of government money to help the stranded workers, mostly from Pakistan, India, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Saudi Labour Minister Mufrej al-Haqbani told Reuters on Wednesday that several distressed local firms, including Saudi Binladin Group, had now started paying overdue wages. Binladin executives promised him that payments would be completed by September, he said. Oger is the only company still broadly withholding payments, and the Labour Ministry will press foreigners' wage claims through the kingdom's labour dispute system, Haqbani said, without specifying when claims might be resolved. "Saudi Oger - now we’ll take it to the courts. Now we are responsible for that. We’ve hired lawyers," he said. "As the ministry, we will go through the labour dispute courts to go after Saudi Oger and to collect the claims." He also said the troubles at Oger were not a sign of problems with Saudi Arabia's overall employment of foreign workers, most of whom were choosing to remain in the country. “This is a small segment...of the labour market. We have more than 10 million expats working happily here in the country. When a company like Saudi Oger fails to comply with the rules, this will never destroy the good image of our labour market.” Philippines Secretary of Labour Silvestre Bello, who visited Riyadh for talks with Haqbani this week, said that with the assistance of Saudi authorities, about 1,000 Filipino workers could be sent home by mid-September. At the camp, Mohammed Niaz, 42, said his two daughters back in Pakistan had stopped attending school because he could no longer send money home for fees. "I'm wasting my time. I want to go to Pakistan," he said. But he added that he refused to leave Saudi Arabia without the 13,000 riyals which Oger owed him. "My family has no money. My daughters are out of school. How can I go to Pakistan?" (Reuters)

Abandoned in Saudi desert camps, migrant workers won't leave without pay

The first batch of 26 Indian workers, who had lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Indian capital of New Delhi today after the country issued them exit visas. 
 
Saudi Arabia had agreed to swiftly resolve the&nbsp;plight of thousands of laid-off Indian workers including providing them free passage to return to India during a visit of the&nbsp;minister of state for external affairs VK Singh to the Gulf nation last week. 
 
&quot;Minister of state, VK Singh has had very productive meetings with the labour minister and other senior ministers during his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result of these meetings, the process of lodging claims and for those wishing to come back to India has already started,&quot;&nbsp;External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. 
 
He said India appreciated the &quot;magnanimous view&quot; taken by the Saudi Arabian government of granting exit visas expeditiously and agreeing to bear the expenses for the travel of the workers. 
 
Saudi Arabia has also set up a crisis management group to address difficulties being faced by the jobless Indian workers while a separate panel has been appointed to look into their claims relating to unpaid wages. 
 
Saudi rules restrict&nbsp;foreign workers to leave the country without NoC by the employers. 
 
&quot;The swift action to tackle a localised problem specific only to some companies of Saudi Arabia signifies the deep and abiding relationship that our two countries share. We are confident that this will alleviate the problems faced by workers of all nationalities,&quot; said the MEA Spokesperson. 
 
The spokesperson referred to the difficulties of retrenched workers of Saudi Oger limited and said the first batch of 26 Indian workers were issued exit visas. The workers came via a flight from Jeddah. 
 
&quot;From here, respective state governments will be making arrangements for their travel to their hometowns,&quot; Swarup said. 
 
(PTI)

Saudi Arabia had agreed to swiftly resolve plight of thousands of unemployed Indian workers, including providing them free passage to return

The first batch of 26 Indian workers, who had lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Indian capital of New Delhi today after the country issued them exit visas. Saudi Arabia had agreed to swiftly resolve the plight of thousands of laid-off Indian workers including providing them free passage to return to India during a visit of the minister of state for external affairs VK Singh to the Gulf nation last week. "Minister of state, VK Singh has had very productive meetings with the labour minister and other senior ministers during his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result of these meetings, the process of lodging claims and for those wishing to come back to India has already started," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. He said India appreciated the "magnanimous view" taken by the Saudi Arabian government of granting exit visas expeditiously and agreeing to bear the expenses for the travel of the workers. Saudi Arabia has also set up a crisis management group to address difficulties being faced by the jobless Indian workers while a separate panel has been appointed to look into their claims relating to unpaid wages. Saudi rules restrict foreign workers to leave the country without NoC by the employers. "The swift action to tackle a localised problem specific only to some companies of Saudi Arabia signifies the deep and abiding relationship that our two countries share. We are confident that this will alleviate the problems faced by workers of all nationalities," said the MEA Spokesperson. The spokesperson referred to the difficulties of retrenched workers of Saudi Oger limited and said the first batch of 26 Indian workers were issued exit visas. The workers came via a flight from Jeddah. "From here, respective state governments will be making arrangements for their travel to their hometowns," Swarup said. (PTI)

26 stranded Indian workers return home from Saudi Arabia

The Philippines said, on Saturday, it would, within days, send government missions to Saudi Arabia to help thousands of jobless Filipinos left stranded across the kingdom after the plunge in oil prices. 
 
The first batch of officials would fly to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday &quot;to provide immediate humanitarian, legal, and other consular assistance to the overseas Filipino workers stranded in work camps across Saudi Arabia,&quot; a foreign department statement said.&nbsp;The immediate target is to bring aid to &quot;those without food and in dire need of medical care and other support services&quot;, it added. 
 
&quot;A high level delegation of senior Philippine government officials will also be sent soonest to negotiate immediate and long-term solutions with counterparts in the Saudi government,&quot; the statement said.&nbsp;&quot;The directive of (President Rodrigo Duterte) is to bring all of them home as soon as possible,&quot; labour secretary Silvestre Bello told ABS-CBN television in an interview aired Saturday. 
 
Labour rights monitors in the Philippines said last week some Filipinos have been forced to beg or sift through garbage to survive after going unpaid for months or after having been laid off from construction jobs. 
 
The Philippine government estimates about 9,000 Filipino workers were affected, though the Manila-based labour rights group Migrante said as many as 20,000 could be in distress.&nbsp;They could not leave because they lacked proper permits or were still awaiting months of back pay, Migrante added.&nbsp; 
 
Asian activists and officials have said thousands of Indians and Pakistanis are also stranded in Saudi Arabia following the layoffs.&nbsp;About 10 million Filipinos work abroad due to low wages or lack of jobs in their own country of about 100 million people. Oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have been a key destination since the 1970s. 
 
(AFP)

Some Filipinos beg or sift through garbage to survive after going unpaid for months or after having been laid off from construction jobs

The Philippines said, on Saturday, it would, within days, send government missions to Saudi Arabia to help thousands of jobless Filipinos left stranded across the kingdom after the plunge in oil prices. The first batch of officials would fly to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday "to provide immediate humanitarian, legal, and other consular assistance to the overseas Filipino workers stranded in work camps across Saudi Arabia," a foreign department statement said. The immediate target is to bring aid to "those without food and in dire need of medical care and other support services", it added. "A high level delegation of senior Philippine government officials will also be sent soonest to negotiate immediate and long-term solutions with counterparts in the Saudi government," the statement said. "The directive of (President Rodrigo Duterte) is to bring all of them home as soon as possible," labour secretary Silvestre Bello told ABS-CBN television in an interview aired Saturday. Labour rights monitors in the Philippines said last week some Filipinos have been forced to beg or sift through garbage to survive after going unpaid for months or after having been laid off from construction jobs. The Philippine government estimates about 9,000 Filipino workers were affected, though the Manila-based labour rights group Migrante said as many as 20,000 could be in distress. They could not leave because they lacked proper permits or were still awaiting months of back pay, Migrante added. Asian activists and officials have said thousands of Indians and Pakistanis are also stranded in Saudi Arabia following the layoffs. About 10 million Filipinos work abroad due to low wages or lack of jobs in their own country of about 100 million people. Oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have been a key destination since the 1970s. (AFP)

Philippines to negotiate with Saudi Arabia over stranded workers

Saudi Arabia has offered to help German investigators find those behind Islamist bomb and axe attacks in July, news magazine Der Spiegel reported today, citing a senior member of the Saudi government. 
 
Saudi authorities are in contact with their German colleagues, responding to new findings that show both attackers were in close contact via a chat conversation with possible Islamic State backers from Saudi Arabia, Spiegel said. 
 
Traces of the chat, which investigators have been able to reconstruct, indicate that both men were not only influenced by but also took instructions from people, as yet unidentified, up until the attacks, the report said. 
 
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on July 18 near Wuerzburg in Bavaria in which a 17-year-old refugee believed to be from Pakistan or Afghanistan wounded five people with an axe before police shot him dead. 
 
A twenty-seven-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in Ansbach, southern Germany on July 24 had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on a video found on his mobile phone, investigators said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, which wounded 15 people.

Bavaria&#39;s Interior Minister said at the end of July that the Ansbach bomber had been &quot;significantly influenced&quot; in a chat conversation on his mobile phone that ended just before the attack. 
 
(Reuters)

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for both the attacks that happened on July 18 and 24 in Germany

Saudi Arabia has offered to help German investigators find those behind Islamist bomb and axe attacks in July, news magazine Der Spiegel reported today, citing a senior member of the Saudi government. Saudi authorities are in contact with their German colleagues, responding to new findings that show both attackers were in close contact via a chat conversation with possible Islamic State backers from Saudi Arabia, Spiegel said. Traces of the chat, which investigators have been able to reconstruct, indicate that both men were not only influenced by but also took instructions from people, as yet unidentified, up until the attacks, the report said. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on July 18 near Wuerzburg in Bavaria in which a 17-year-old refugee believed to be from Pakistan or Afghanistan wounded five people with an axe before police shot him dead. A twenty-seven-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in Ansbach, southern Germany on July 24 had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on a video found on his mobile phone, investigators said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, which wounded 15 people. Bavaria's Interior Minister said at the end of July that the Ansbach bomber had been "significantly influenced" in a chat conversation on his mobile phone that ended just before the attack. (Reuters)

Saudi?Arabia?to?help?Germany?investigate?attacks, reports Spiegel

Saudi Arabia has set up a crisis management group to address difficulties being faced by thousands of laid-off Indian workers while a separate panel has been appointed to look into their claims relating to unpaid wages. 
 
The &quot;humanitarian issue&quot; is being handled with &quot;utmost care&quot; and consideration by the Saudi Government which conveyed to India that it has speeded up the exit of workers who wish to return home, ministry of external affairs (MEA), India, spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. 
 
He said a little more time will be required to have full clarity on how many Indians want to come home and how many would like to remain in Saudi Arabia to pursue employment with other companies. 
 
Swarup categorised the problems being faced by Indian workers into four segments such as wage claims, relocation, repatriation and conditions of the Indians living in various labour camps. 
 
Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh had travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and held extensive talks with Saudi Labour Minister Mufrej Al Haqbani who promised urgent action to resolve the problems of around 7,000 Indians. 
 
&quot;Earlier, in accordance to Saudi Arabian law, individual complaints used to go to labour courts. Now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia&#39;s ministry of labour has set up a committee to look into the claims of the workers.&nbsp;A crisis management group has also been set up by the ministry of labour to settle all issues related to Indian workers,&quot; Swarup said adding the ministry of labour will now appoint a lawyer and we will know the exact procedure regarding this in the next two to three days. 
 
&#39;Things are in control&#39;&nbsp; 
 
On the issue of repatriation of the Indians, he said Saudi government has conveyed to India that they will make necessary arrangements for those who want to return to India.&nbsp;The workers who want to leave Saudi Arabia can authorise the Indian consulate in Jeddah to follow up on their cases in labour courts and proceed on exit. 
 
&quot;Our consulate has already given the list of workers willing to come back to India and those seeking transfer to Saudi authorities. As you can see, due to our excellent relationship with Saudi Arabia and efforts made at the highest level, things are in control and this humanitarian issue is being handled with utmost care and consideration,&quot; said Swarup. 
 
The Saudi government also agreed to allow transfer of Indian employees, who have lost their jobs, to any other company within Saudi Arabia.&nbsp; 
 
 
&#39;Kafala&#39; system applies to foreign workers in Saudi Arabia&nbsp; 
 
As per Saudi Arabia&#39;s kafala system, which is applicable to foreign workers, employees are not allowed to move to a new job without approval of their bosses.&nbsp;The rules also restricts foreign workers to leave the country without NoC (no objection certificate) by the employers. 
 
&quot;The Saudi authorities have conveyed that they are willing to renew resident permits and labour cards to the Indian workers without any fines or fees.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Workers who are willing to be transferred to other employers would be transferred without payment of fee or charge and without needing the consent of the current employer. Workers who wish to transfer their services can request the Ministry of Labour for grant of a three month temporary resident permit cum labour card,&quot; said Swarup. 
 
He said many companies, including some Indian construction firms are interested in taking the services of the retrenched workers. &quot;Such a development will be a win-win for all&quot;. 
 
The MEA spokesperson further said, &quot;We are giving attention to the issue off Indian workers in Saudi Arabia the highest consideration possible.&quot; 
 
On food crisis hitting workers staying in labour camps, Swarup said the Saudi authorities have taken responsibility of providing food to them. 
 
He said Singh had pointed to Saudi authorities that care should be taken regarding the conditions in which the workers are living in, with special focus on their health and cleanliness. 
 
&quot;The director general of the ministry of labour and social development met with our Consul General in Jeddah and assured him that Saudi Government has instructed concerned authorities to maintain cleanliness, provide electricity, water supply and medical facilities at the camps in which Indians are staying,&quot; the MEA spokesperson said. 
 
Asked about denial of diplomatic passport to a Kerala minister who wanted to visit Saudi Arabia to meet those languishing in labour camps, Swarup said there seemed to be a misunderstanding on the issue. 
 
&quot;The matter is not about the issue of a diplomatic passport; it is about the timing of the ministerial visit. At this time, the focus of our Mission and Consulate is on helping the Indian workers who are facing hardships and also on helping the Indian pilgrims who have arrived in the holy city of Mecca for the sacred Haj pilgrimage.&nbsp;Surely, it cannot be anybody&#39;s case that the mission should not pay attention to the requirements of the Indian citizens, including those in distress,&quot; he said. 
 
(PTI)&nbsp;

The problems facing Indian labourers are: wage claims, relocation, repatriation and poor conditions for Indians living in labour camps

Saudi Arabia has set up a crisis management group to address difficulties being faced by thousands of laid-off Indian workers while a separate panel has been appointed to look into their claims relating to unpaid wages. The "humanitarian issue" is being handled with "utmost care" and consideration by the Saudi Government which conveyed to India that it has speeded up the exit of workers who wish to return home, ministry of external affairs (MEA), India, spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. He said a little more time will be required to have full clarity on how many Indians want to come home and how many would like to remain in Saudi Arabia to pursue employment with other companies. Swarup categorised the problems being faced by Indian workers into four segments such as wage claims, relocation, repatriation and conditions of the Indians living in various labour camps. Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh had travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and held extensive talks with Saudi Labour Minister Mufrej Al Haqbani who promised urgent action to resolve the problems of around 7,000 Indians. "Earlier, in accordance to Saudi Arabian law, individual complaints used to go to labour courts. Now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's ministry of labour has set up a committee to look into the claims of the workers. A crisis management group has also been set up by the ministry of labour to settle all issues related to Indian workers," Swarup said adding the ministry of labour will now appoint a lawyer and we will know the exact procedure regarding this in the next two to three days. 'Things are in control' On the issue of repatriation of the Indians, he said Saudi government has conveyed to India that they will make necessary arrangements for those who want to return to India. The workers who want to leave Saudi Arabia can authorise the Indian consulate in Jeddah to follow up on their cases in labour courts and proceed on exit. "Our consulate has already given the list of workers willing to come back to India and those seeking transfer to Saudi authorities. As you can see, due to our excellent relationship with Saudi Arabia and efforts made at the highest level, things are in control and this humanitarian issue is being handled with utmost care and consideration," said Swarup. The Saudi government also agreed to allow transfer of Indian employees, who have lost their jobs, to any other company within Saudi Arabia. 'Kafala' system applies to foreign workers in Saudi Arabia As per Saudi Arabia's kafala system, which is applicable to foreign workers, employees are not allowed to move to a new job without approval of their bosses. The rules also restricts foreign workers to leave the country without NoC (no objection certificate) by the employers. "The Saudi authorities have conveyed that they are willing to renew resident permits and labour cards to the Indian workers without any fines or fees. "Workers who are willing to be transferred to other employers would be transferred without payment of fee or charge and without needing the consent of the current employer. Workers who wish to transfer their services can request the Ministry of Labour for grant of a three month temporary resident permit cum labour card," said Swarup. He said many companies, including some Indian construction firms are interested in taking the services of the retrenched workers. "Such a development will be a win-win for all". The MEA spokesperson further said, "We are giving attention to the issue off Indian workers in Saudi Arabia the highest consideration possible." On food crisis hitting workers staying in labour camps, Swarup said the Saudi authorities have taken responsibility of providing food to them. He said Singh had pointed to Saudi authorities that care should be taken regarding the conditions in which the workers are living in, with special focus on their health and cleanliness. "The director general of the ministry of labour and social development met with our Consul General in Jeddah and assured him that Saudi Government has instructed concerned authorities to maintain cleanliness, provide electricity, water supply and medical facilities at the camps in which Indians are staying," the MEA spokesperson said. Asked about denial of diplomatic passport to a Kerala minister who wanted to visit Saudi Arabia to meet those languishing in labour camps, Swarup said there seemed to be a misunderstanding on the issue. "The matter is not about the issue of a diplomatic passport; it is about the timing of the ministerial visit. At this time, the focus of our Mission and Consulate is on helping the Indian workers who are facing hardships and also on helping the Indian pilgrims who have arrived in the holy city of Mecca for the sacred Haj pilgrimage. Surely, it cannot be anybody's case that the mission should not pay attention to the requirements of the Indian citizens, including those in distress," he said. (PTI)

Saudi Arabia to fix Indian workers 'humanitarian issue'

Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj today said that the king of Saudi Arabia has assured of help to thousands of laid-off Indian workers stranded in his country. 
 
Swaraj, who was addressing the Lower House of Parliament, said that the king has also given orders to resolve the issue within two days. 
 
&quot;I am happy to tell you that Saudi authorities have taken note of the issues that I had discussed and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has given orders that this issue must be resolved within two days. When V.K. Singh reached there he met their labour and social development minister, Haqbani (Mufrej Al Haqbani),&quot; said Swaraj. 
 
Regarding the dues of workers, the minister said, their claims will be settled even after their return. 
 
&quot;They have accepted that every worker will file their individual claim in the labour office before coming back. The labour office will work with Indian embassy in Riyadh and will settle all the claims. They will get their money even after coming back to India,&quot; said Swaraj. 
 
She added that the Saudi administration was also making arrangements to provide food and other assistance to the workers. 
 
The Consulate General of India in Jeddah said on its official Twitter feed on Saturday that it had distributed 15,475 kg of food over the past three days in association with the Indian community. 
 
Low oil prices have forced the Saudi government to slash spending since last year, putting pressure on the finances of local construction firms which rely on state contracts. 
 
As a result, some companies have been struggling to pay foreign workers and have laid off tens of thousands, leaving many with no money for food, let alone tickets for home. 
 
The hardships faced by Indian migrants come amid rising protests against working conditions in Saudi Arabia. 
 
(Reuters)

Swaraj said Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has given orders to resolve the issue of stranded workers within two days

Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj today said that the king of Saudi Arabia has assured of help to thousands of laid-off Indian workers stranded in his country. Swaraj, who was addressing the Lower House of Parliament, said that the king has also given orders to resolve the issue within two days. "I am happy to tell you that Saudi authorities have taken note of the issues that I had discussed and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has given orders that this issue must be resolved within two days. When V.K. Singh reached there he met their labour and social development minister, Haqbani (Mufrej Al Haqbani)," said Swaraj. Regarding the dues of workers, the minister said, their claims will be settled even after their return. "They have accepted that every worker will file their individual claim in the labour office before coming back. The labour office will work with Indian embassy in Riyadh and will settle all the claims. They will get their money even after coming back to India," said Swaraj. She added that the Saudi administration was also making arrangements to provide food and other assistance to the workers. The Consulate General of India in Jeddah said on its official Twitter feed on Saturday that it had distributed 15,475 kg of food over the past three days in association with the Indian community. Low oil prices have forced the Saudi government to slash spending since last year, putting pressure on the finances of local construction firms which rely on state contracts. As a result, some companies have been struggling to pay foreign workers and have laid off tens of thousands, leaving many with no money for food, let alone tickets for home. The hardships faced by Indian migrants come amid rising protests against working conditions in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

Saudi King assured help to stranded workers: Indian foreign minister Swaraj

In a diplomatic victory for India, Saudi Arabia has agreed to give exit visas to hundreds of jobless Indian workers there and will send them back home at its own expense. 
 
Making a suo motu statement in Indian parliament&#39;s upper house, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said Saudi Arabia has also agreed to provide free medical facility and food to the Indian workers stranded in camps and also allow those eligible to seek re-employment with other companies. 
 
Swaraj said her deputy and minister of state for foreign affairs V K Singh was camping in Saudi Arabia since Tuesday evening and will return after formalising the arrangements for the Indian workers. 
 
&quot;I am happy to inform that the Saudi ruler has taken note of the plight of Indian workers. Saudi King has instructed the officials to resolve the issue in two days,&quot; she said. 
 
Saudi Arabia, Swaraj said, has agreed to the Indian government&#39;s request to grant exit visas to the stranded worker. It has also offered to transport the workers to India. &quot;Government of India will not have to spend a penny on that,&quot; she said. 
 
The nation has also permitted workers to take re-employment if other companies find them suitable, she said, adding that before departing, the Indian workers will register their claims of unpaid salaries and other dues with the labour office of Saudi Arabia. 
 
Indian embassy in Riyadh will follow up with the Saudi Arabia&#39;s labour office to get all the dues of workers cleared, she said. 
 
Swaraj said the Saudi ruler has also issued orders to provide free medical and food to Indian workers lodged in the camps apart from all civic amenities. 
 
Thanking the Saudi ruler, she said this was possible because of the personal and diplomatic relationship maintained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Islamic nation. 
 
Leader of the opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad complimented the Indian and the Saudi governments for reaching a solution on the issue.&nbsp; 
 
(PTI)

Saudi has also agreed to provide free medical aid & food to the stranded Indian workers, the Indian foreign minister said

In a diplomatic victory for India, Saudi Arabia has agreed to give exit visas to hundreds of jobless Indian workers there and will send them back home at its own expense. Making a suo motu statement in Indian parliament's upper house, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said Saudi Arabia has also agreed to provide free medical facility and food to the Indian workers stranded in camps and also allow those eligible to seek re-employment with other companies. Swaraj said her deputy and minister of state for foreign affairs V K Singh was camping in Saudi Arabia since Tuesday evening and will return after formalising the arrangements for the Indian workers. "I am happy to inform that the Saudi ruler has taken note of the plight of Indian workers. Saudi King has instructed the officials to resolve the issue in two days," she said. Saudi Arabia, Swaraj said, has agreed to the Indian government's request to grant exit visas to the stranded worker. It has also offered to transport the workers to India. "Government of India will not have to spend a penny on that," she said. The nation has also permitted workers to take re-employment if other companies find them suitable, she said, adding that before departing, the Indian workers will register their claims of unpaid salaries and other dues with the labour office of Saudi Arabia. Indian embassy in Riyadh will follow up with the Saudi Arabia's labour office to get all the dues of workers cleared, she said. Swaraj said the Saudi ruler has also issued orders to provide free medical and food to Indian workers lodged in the camps apart from all civic amenities. Thanking the Saudi ruler, she said this was possible because of the personal and diplomatic relationship maintained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Islamic nation. Leader of the opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad complimented the Indian and the Saudi governments for reaching a solution on the issue. (PTI)

Saudi to send stranded Indian workers back at its expense

India said today it is negotiating with authorities in Saudi Arabia to repatriate thousands of migrant workers after they lost their jobs, leaving them destitute and with no money to return home. 
 
Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that around 10,000 workers had lost their jobs and been left to starve. 
 
Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress. 
 
Many of the companies employing them have suffered from the drop in oil revenues from falling prices, prompting a downturn in construction and layoffs. 
 
The Indian consulate in Jeddah has been providing free food for its nationals since their plight came to light last week, but Swaraj said the situation could not be allowed to continue. 
 
&quot;This can&#39;t be a permanent solution, we will have to bring them back,&quot; Swaraj told the lower house of the parliament Monday. 
 
However that is being hampered by a Saudi requirement that workers provide a no-objection certificate from their employers before they can leave the country, she said. 
 
Junior minister VK Singh will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to try to sort the situation out, she said. 
 
Among those stranded are some 2,450 workers laid off by Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon&#39;s billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri. 
 
&quot;No jobless Indian will sleep hungry. If they want to come back home, the government will ensure their safe return...we have a collective responsibility towards our citizens,&quot; Swaraj said. 
 
Nearly three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India. In November 2014, Gulf and Asian labour ministers agreed on a series of initiatives aimed at boosting protection and improving conditions of employment for foreign workers in the Gulf. 
 
(AFP)

Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses

India said today it is negotiating with authorities in Saudi Arabia to repatriate thousands of migrant workers after they lost their jobs, leaving them destitute and with no money to return home. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that around 10,000 workers had lost their jobs and been left to starve. Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress. Many of the companies employing them have suffered from the drop in oil revenues from falling prices, prompting a downturn in construction and layoffs. The Indian consulate in Jeddah has been providing free food for its nationals since their plight came to light last week, but Swaraj said the situation could not be allowed to continue. "This can't be a permanent solution, we will have to bring them back," Swaraj told the lower house of the parliament Monday. However that is being hampered by a Saudi requirement that workers provide a no-objection certificate from their employers before they can leave the country, she said. Junior minister VK Singh will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to try to sort the situation out, she said. Among those stranded are some 2,450 workers laid off by Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon's billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri. "No jobless Indian will sleep hungry. If they want to come back home, the government will ensure their safe return...we have a collective responsibility towards our citizens," Swaraj said. Nearly three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India. In November 2014, Gulf and Asian labour ministers agreed on a series of initiatives aimed at boosting protection and improving conditions of employment for foreign workers in the Gulf. (AFP)

India plans to bring back thousands of migrant workers stranded in Saudi

Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj rushed to the rescue of 10,000 unemployed Indians who were stranded in Saudi Arabia without food at a camp. She ensured that the&nbsp;Indian Embassy in Jeddah supplied them immediately with food on Saturday.
<div class="twitter-block">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The number of Indian workers facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia is over Ten Thousand. It is not 800 as is being reported. <a href="https://twitter.com/JagranNews">@JagranNews</a>
&mdash; Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) <a href="https://twitter.com/SushmaSwaraj/status/759424598114873344">July 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>
 
Swaraj reacted to a tweet by an Indian national who brought the plight of his fellow citizens to the notice of the Indian government.&nbsp; 
She assured that no Indian worker rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia will go without food. She also said that she was personally monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. 
 
&quot;Large number of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The employers have not paid wages closed down their factories&quot;, Swaraj tweeted 
 
&quot;While situation in Kuwait is manageable, matters are much worse in Saudi Arabia&quot;, she said. 
 
A man named Imran Khokhar had tweeted that 800 Indians were starving for past three days in Jeddah.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/SushmaSwaraj">@SushmaSwaraj</a> after your quick reaction some camps got foods today <a href="https://t.co/BXpwLDCrEx">pic.twitter.com/BXpwLDCrEx</a>
&mdash; Imran Khokhar (@Imran_khokhar84) <a href="https://twitter.com/Imran_khokhar84/status/759382994876502016">July 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script> 
 
Thousands of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The factory workers have not been paid wages by their employers and factories were also shut down.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
There is nothing mightier than the collective will of Indian nation.
&mdash; Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) <a href="https://twitter.com/SushmaSwaraj/status/759427375809503232">July 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Swaraj also appealed to the three million Indians living in Saudi Arabia to help their &quot;fellow brothers and sisters&quot;. 
 
(WION)

Swaraj's response came after an Indian, Imran Khokhar, had tweeted that 800 unemployed nationals were starving in Saudi Arabia

Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj rushed to the rescue of 10,000 unemployed Indians who were stranded in Saudi Arabia without food at a camp. She ensured that the Indian Embassy in Jeddah supplied them immediately with food on Saturday. The number of Indian workers facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia is over Ten Thousand. It is not 800 as is being reported. @JagranNews — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 Swaraj reacted to a tweet by an Indian national who brought the plight of his fellow citizens to the notice of the Indian government. She assured that no Indian worker rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia will go without food. She also said that she was personally monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. "Large number of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The employers have not paid wages closed down their factories", Swaraj tweeted "While situation in Kuwait is manageable, matters are much worse in Saudi Arabia", she said. A man named Imran Khokhar had tweeted that 800 Indians were starving for past three days in Jeddah. @SushmaSwaraj after your quick reaction some camps got foods today pic.twitter.com/BXpwLDCrEx — Imran Khokhar (@Imran_khokhar84) July 30, 2016 Thousands of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The factory workers have not been paid wages by their employers and factories were also shut down. There is nothing mightier than the collective will of Indian nation. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 30, 2016 Swaraj also appealed to the three million Indians living in Saudi Arabia to help their "fellow brothers and sisters". (WION)

Indian foreign minister reaches out to help 10,000 stranded in Jeddah

Warplanes of a Saudi-led coalition bombed Houthi fighters from Yemen seeking to infiltrate Saudi Arabia &nbsp;today, killing tens of Houthi militiamen, security sources said. 
 
The bombing took place on the Yemeni side of the border close to the Saudi city of Najran, they said.&nbsp; 
 
Clashes were also seen in the northwestern Yemeni town of Haradh which borders the kingdom, witnesses said. 
 
The flare-up in fighting was one of the worst since peace talks began in Kuwait in April between Yemen&rsquo;s government and the Houthis to end a 16-month conflict that has left more than 6,400 people dead, nearly half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2.5 million. 
 
A truce that began in April has slowed the momentum of fighting, but violence continues almost daily. 
 
Prospects for progress in the talks dimmed further this week when Houthi rebels and their allies in the political party of a militarily powerful former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced they had decided to form a political council to unilaterally rule the country. 
 
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations Yemen envoy, said the move gravely violated UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls on the Houthis &quot;to refrain from further unilateral actions that could undermine the political transition in Yemen&quot;. 
 
(Reuters) 
&nbsp;

According to security sources,the bombing took place on the Yemeni side of the border close to the Saudi city of Najran

Warplanes of a Saudi-led coalition bombed Houthi fighters from Yemen seeking to infiltrate Saudi Arabia today, killing tens of Houthi militiamen, security sources said. The bombing took place on the Yemeni side of the border close to the Saudi city of Najran, they said. Clashes were also seen in the northwestern Yemeni town of Haradh which borders the kingdom, witnesses said. The flare-up in fighting was one of the worst since peace talks began in Kuwait in April between Yemen’s government and the Houthis to end a 16-month conflict that has left more than 6,400 people dead, nearly half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2.5 million. A truce that began in April has slowed the momentum of fighting, but violence continues almost daily. Prospects for progress in the talks dimmed further this week when Houthi rebels and their allies in the political party of a militarily powerful former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced they had decided to form a political council to unilaterally rule the country. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations Yemen envoy, said the move gravely violated UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls on the Houthis "to refrain from further unilateral actions that could undermine the political transition in Yemen". (Reuters)

Coalition warplanes attack Houthi fighters near Saudi border

The US&nbsp;Congress on Friday released a long-classified section of the official report on the September&nbsp;11 attacks that discussed potential links between some of the hijackers and Saudi Arabia but said the links were not independently verified.

The 28 pages of the report on the 2002 investigation focus on potential Saudi links to the 2001 aircraft attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3000 people died.

They were issued by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee after years of wrangling in Washington between Congress and different administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and urging by families of those killed.

The release of the previously classified pages is unlikely to end the controversy over the role of Saudi Arabia, an important US&nbsp;partner in the Middle East. Many US&nbsp;officials who opposed their release had worried they would damage diplomatic relations.

Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

&quot;According to various FBI documents and CIA memorandum, some of the September 11 hijackers, while in the United States, apparently had contacts with individuals who may be connected to the Saudi Government,&quot; the report said, giving a catalogue of alleged links.

They included reported contacts between Saudis in California and a statement that a man who was reportedly a Saudi Interior Ministry official stayed at the same Virginia hotel as one hijacker in September 2001.

Another section said that Omar al-Bayoumi, said to be a Saudi intelligence officer, met with two hijackers at a public place after they arrived in San Diego. It said, citing FBI files, that his salary rose to $3700 a month from $465 two months after two of the hijackers arrived in California.

One page described how two of the hijackers asked flight attendants technical questions during a trip in 1999 from Phoenix to Washington to attend a party at the Saudi embassy. One tried twice to enter the cockpit. The plane made an emergency landing and the FBI investigated, but did not prosecute. 
&nbsp;

Controversy will continue

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said its agreement to the release is not an indication that the intelligence community agrees with the pages&#39; accuracy or concurs with the information it contains.

The office also on Friday released a declassified summary of an assessment of whether Riyadh may have supported Al-Qaeda before and after the attacks, saying the Saudi government and many of its agencies had been infiltrated and exploited by individuals associated with or sympathetic to Osama bin Laden&#39;s militant network.

Several members of Congress said they were pleased the pages had finally been released. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said he hoped the release would quiet rumours.

&quot;The Intelligence Community and the 9/11 Commission, which followed the Joint Inquiry that produced these so-called 28 pages, investigated the questions they raised and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them,&quot; he said.

Legislation that would allow families of September&nbsp;11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia has been passed by the US&nbsp;Senate and is making its way through the House, despite President Barack Obama&#39;s threat to veto the measure.

A September&nbsp;11 families group made clear the pages&#39; release would not stop their push for the legislation. &quot;Congress has to stand up for the interests of the thousands of innocent Americans who lost loved ones on 9/11,&quot; the &quot;9/11 Families&quot; organisation said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia&#39;s ambassador to the United States, Abdullah al-Saud, said the country welcomed the release.

&quot;We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabia&#39;s actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States,&quot; he said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters before the pages were released that they would show no evidence of Saudi complicity.

The Obama administration sent a declassified version of the 28 pages, with many lines and sentences blacked out to protect intelligence sources and methods, to Congress on Friday morning. The House intelligence panel released it a few hours later.

(Reuters)

A declassified summary of an assessment of whether Riyadh may have supported Al-Qaeda before and after the attacks was also released

The US Congress on Friday released a long-classified section of the official report on the September 11 attacks that discussed potential links between some of the hijackers and Saudi Arabia but said the links were not independently verified. The 28 pages of the report on the 2002 investigation focus on potential Saudi links to the 2001 aircraft attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3000 people died. They were issued by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee after years of wrangling in Washington between Congress and different administrations, Republicans and Democrats, and urging by families of those killed. The release of the previously classified pages is unlikely to end the controversy over the role of Saudi Arabia, an important US partner in the Middle East. Many US officials who opposed their release had worried they would damage diplomatic relations. Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudi citizens. "According to various FBI documents and CIA memorandum, some of the September 11 hijackers, while in the United States, apparently had contacts with individuals who may be connected to the Saudi Government," the report said, giving a catalogue of alleged links. They included reported contacts between Saudis in California and a statement that a man who was reportedly a Saudi Interior Ministry official stayed at the same Virginia hotel as one hijacker in September 2001. Another section said that Omar al-Bayoumi, said to be a Saudi intelligence officer, met with two hijackers at a public place after they arrived in San Diego. It said, citing FBI files, that his salary rose to $3700 a month from $465 two months after two of the hijackers arrived in California. One page described how two of the hijackers asked flight attendants technical questions during a trip in 1999 from Phoenix to Washington to attend a party at the Saudi embassy. One tried twice to enter the cockpit. The plane made an emergency landing and the FBI investigated, but did not prosecute. Controversy will continue The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said its agreement to the release is not an indication that the intelligence community agrees with the pages' accuracy or concurs with the information it contains. The office also on Friday released a declassified summary of an assessment of whether Riyadh may have supported Al-Qaeda before and after the attacks, saying the Saudi government and many of its agencies had been infiltrated and exploited by individuals associated with or sympathetic to Osama bin Laden's militant network. Several members of Congress said they were pleased the pages had finally been released. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said he hoped the release would quiet rumours. "The Intelligence Community and the 9/11 Commission, which followed the Joint Inquiry that produced these so-called 28 pages, investigated the questions they raised and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them," he said. Legislation that would allow families of September 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia has been passed by the US Senate and is making its way through the House, despite President Barack Obama's threat to veto the measure. A September 11 families group made clear the pages' release would not stop their push for the legislation. "Congress has to stand up for the interests of the thousands of innocent Americans who lost loved ones on 9/11," the "9/11 Families" organisation said in a statement. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Abdullah al-Saud, said the country welcomed the release. "We hope the release of these pages will clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions about Saudi Arabia's actions, intentions, or long-term friendship with the United States," he said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters before the pages were released that they would show no evidence of Saudi complicity. The Obama administration sent a declassified version of the 28 pages, with many lines and sentences blacked out to protect intelligence sources and methods, to Congress on Friday morning. The House intelligence panel released it a few hours later. (Reuters)

Pages of US 9/11 report detailing possible Saudi ties made public

A suicide bomber was killed and two other wounded in a blast near the US consulate in Saudi Arabia&#39;s second city of Jeddah early today, state TV said, the first bombing in years to attempt to target foreigners in the kingdom. 
 
The attacker parked his car outside a hospital opposite the consulate at about 2.15 am and detonated his device after being approached by two security men, killing him and lightly wounding them, it said, quoting a security spokesman. 
 
Three further blasts rocked the location of the bombing hours later, a witness told Reuters, as police carried out what appeared to be controlled explosions near the site. 
 
A video sent by the witness showed police taking cover behind vehicles and covering their ears before an explosion sounded. 
 
Reuters could not immediately reach officials to give more details. A photograph on the Sabq news website showed what appeared to be the remains of a man lying next to a taxi. 
 
The statement on state television referred to the location of the consulate by its street address and did not refer directly to the presence of the diplomatic mission there, an apparent effort to downplay the attack&#39;s likely target. 
 
A spokesman for the US state department said it was aware of reports of a blast in Jeddah and was seeking more information from the Saudi government. He added that all staff at the consulate were accounted for. 
 
A state department message sent to US citizens in Saudi Arabia noted the reports of the attack and reiterated earlier advice to remain aware of their surroundings and take extra precautions when travelling in the country. 
 
The witness said the area had been closed off by the security forces and that helicopters were flying overhead. He said the explosion appeared to have taken place about 20 metres (65 feet) from an outer checkpoint of the consulate. Concrete barriers protect the street outside the consulate. 
 
Islamic State has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks in Saudi Arabia since mid-2014 that have killed scores of people, mostly members of the Shi&#39;ite Muslim minority and security services. 
 
A decade ago, an al-Qaeda campaign focused on Western expatriates in the world&#39;s top oil exporter, killing hundreds in attacks on businesses and residential compounds. One 2004 attack hit the US consulate in Jeddah, killing nine. 
 
(Reuters)

The bomber parked his car outside a hospital near the US consulate in Jeddah and detonated the device when two security men walked up to him

A suicide bomber was killed and two other wounded in a blast near the US consulate in Saudi Arabia's second city of Jeddah early today, state TV said, the first bombing in years to attempt to target foreigners in the kingdom. The attacker parked his car outside a hospital opposite the consulate at about 2.15 am and detonated his device after being approached by two security men, killing him and lightly wounding them, it said, quoting a security spokesman. Three further blasts rocked the location of the bombing hours later, a witness told Reuters, as police carried out what appeared to be controlled explosions near the site. A video sent by the witness showed police taking cover behind vehicles and covering their ears before an explosion sounded. Reuters could not immediately reach officials to give more details. A photograph on the Sabq news website showed what appeared to be the remains of a man lying next to a taxi. The statement on state television referred to the location of the consulate by its street address and did not refer directly to the presence of the diplomatic mission there, an apparent effort to downplay the attack's likely target. A spokesman for the US state department said it was aware of reports of a blast in Jeddah and was seeking more information from the Saudi government. He added that all staff at the consulate were accounted for. A state department message sent to US citizens in Saudi Arabia noted the reports of the attack and reiterated earlier advice to remain aware of their surroundings and take extra precautions when travelling in the country. The witness said the area had been closed off by the security forces and that helicopters were flying overhead. He said the explosion appeared to have taken place about 20 metres (65 feet) from an outer checkpoint of the consulate. Concrete barriers protect the street outside the consulate. Islamic State has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks in Saudi Arabia since mid-2014 that have killed scores of people, mostly members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority and security services. A decade ago, an al-Qaeda campaign focused on Western expatriates in the world's top oil exporter, killing hundreds in attacks on businesses and residential compounds. One 2004 attack hit the US consulate in Jeddah, killing nine. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia: Suicide bomber blows himself up near US consulate, 2 hurt

Suicide bombers struck three cities across Saudi Arabia on Monday, in an apparently coordinated campaign of attacks as Saudis prepared to break their fast on the penultimate day of the holy month of Ramzan. 
 
The explosions targeting US diplomats, Shi&#39;ite worshippers and a security headquarters at a mosque in the holy city of&nbsp;Medina&nbsp;follow days of mass killings claimed by the Islamic State group, in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq. 
 
The attacks all seem to have been timed to coincide with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that celebrates the end of the fast. 
 
A Saudi security official said an attacker parked a car near the US consulate in Jeddah before detonating the device. The official said the government was checking the reports of&nbsp;blasts in Qatif and&nbsp;Medina.&nbsp; 
 
In the only one of the three attacks that appeared to have caused many casualties, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb near the security headquarters of the Prophet&#39;s Mosque in&nbsp;Medina, the second-holiest site in Islam. 
 
Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said an initial death toll from the&nbsp;Medina&nbsp;blast&nbsp;included three suicide bombers and two security forces officers. 
 
A video sent to Reuters by a witness to the aftermath of the&nbsp;Medina&nbsp;bombing showed a large blaze among parked cars in the fading evening light, with a sound of sirens in the background. A picture sent to Reuters showed a burnt and bleeding man lying on a stretcher in a hospital. 
 
Other pictures circulating on social media showed dark smoke billowing from flames near the Mosque of the Prophet, originally built in the 7th century by the Prophet Muhammad, who is buried there along with his first two successors. 
 
In Qatif, an Eastern city that is home to many members of the Shi&#39;ite minority, at least one and possibly two explosions struck near a Shi&#39;ite mosque. 
 
Witnesses described body parts, apparently of a suicide bomber, in the aftermath. 
 
A resident of the city reached by telephone said there were believed to be no casualties there apart from the attacker, as worshippers had already gone home to break their fasts. Civil defence forces were cleaning up the area and police were investigating, the resident said. 
 
A video circulating on social media and purporting to show the aftermath of a Qatif&nbsp;blast&nbsp;showed an agitated crowd on a street, with a fire raging near a building, and a bloody body part lying on the ground. Reuters could not immediately verify the video. 
 
Hours earlier a suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded in a&nbsp;blast&nbsp;near the US consulate in the kingdom&#39;s second city Jeddah. 
 
The Jeddah&nbsp;blast&nbsp;was the first bombing in years to attempt to target foreigners in the kingdom. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. 
 
Islamic State has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks in Saudi Arabia since mid-2014 that have killed scores of people, mostly members of the Shi&#39;ite Muslim minority and security services. 
 
Police and groups of local volunteers increased security near mosques in Qatif after suicide bombings hit mosques in Shi&#39;ite areas last year, killing dozens. Another suicide&nbsp;blast&nbsp;at a mosque used by security forces also killed 15 a year ago. 
 
(Reuters)

The blasts, that appear to be coordinated, come ahead of Eid al-Fitr

Suicide bombers struck three cities across Saudi Arabia on Monday, in an apparently coordinated campaign of attacks as Saudis prepared to break their fast on the penultimate day of the holy month of Ramzan. The explosions targeting US diplomats, Shi'ite worshippers and a security headquarters at a mosque in the holy city of Medina follow days of mass killings claimed by the Islamic State group, in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq. The attacks all seem to have been timed to coincide with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that celebrates the end of the fast. A Saudi security official said an attacker parked a car near the US consulate in Jeddah before detonating the device. The official said the government was checking the reports of blasts in Qatif and Medina. In the only one of the three attacks that appeared to have caused many casualties, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb near the security headquarters of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the second-holiest site in Islam. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said an initial death toll from the Medina blast included three suicide bombers and two security forces officers. A video sent to Reuters by a witness to the aftermath of the Medina bombing showed a large blaze among parked cars in the fading evening light, with a sound of sirens in the background. A picture sent to Reuters showed a burnt and bleeding man lying on a stretcher in a hospital. Other pictures circulating on social media showed dark smoke billowing from flames near the Mosque of the Prophet, originally built in the 7th century by the Prophet Muhammad, who is buried there along with his first two successors. In Qatif, an Eastern city that is home to many members of the Shi'ite minority, at least one and possibly two explosions struck near a Shi'ite mosque. Witnesses described body parts, apparently of a suicide bomber, in the aftermath. A resident of the city reached by telephone said there were believed to be no casualties there apart from the attacker, as worshippers had already gone home to break their fasts. Civil defence forces were cleaning up the area and police were investigating, the resident said. A video circulating on social media and purporting to show the aftermath of a Qatif blast showed an agitated crowd on a street, with a fire raging near a building, and a bloody body part lying on the ground. Reuters could not immediately verify the video. Hours earlier a suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded in a blast near the US consulate in the kingdom's second city Jeddah. The Jeddah blast was the first bombing in years to attempt to target foreigners in the kingdom. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Islamic State has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks in Saudi Arabia since mid-2014 that have killed scores of people, mostly members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority and security services. Police and groups of local volunteers increased security near mosques in Qatif after suicide bombings hit mosques in Shi'ite areas last year, killing dozens. Another suicide blast at a mosque used by security forces also killed 15 a year ago. (Reuters)

Suicide bombers hit three Saudi cities including Muslim holy city of Medina

The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported today. 
 
The missile was launched from Yemeni territory heading towards the city of Abha, the capital of southwestern Asir province, and was intercepted at 6:10 am (0310 GMT), SPA reported. 
 
Houthi forces in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia has led a war against the Iran-backed group, have previously fired missiles towards Saudi Arabia. 
 
Saudi-owned Arabiya TV reported earlier today that a missile had been intercepted in the city of Khamees Mushait in the Kingdom&#39;s southwest. It did not identify from where the missile had been fired. 
 
(Reuters)

The missile was launched from Yemeni territory heading towards the city of Abha and was intercepted by the air force, SPA news said

The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported today. The missile was launched from Yemeni territory heading towards the city of Abha, the capital of southwestern Asir province, and was intercepted at 6:10 am (0310 GMT), SPA reported. Houthi forces in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia has led a war against the Iran-backed group, have previously fired missiles towards Saudi Arabia. Saudi-owned Arabiya TV reported earlier today that a missile had been intercepted in the city of Khamees Mushait in the Kingdom's southwest. It did not identify from where the missile had been fired. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia intercepts ballistic missile from Yemen

Eighteen pilgrims have been injured in a stampede near Islam&#39;s holiest site, Saudi media reported on Saturday, as the kingdom continues to review safety after a deadly crush during last year&#39;s hajj. 
 
The incident happened on Friday night near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Al-Riyadh newspaper said, as Muslims gathered in large numbers to mark the Night of Destiny, one of the high points of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. 
 
All the injured were treated at the scene and none required admission to hospital, the newspaper cited a health official as saying. 
 
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Mecca to carry out the lesser umra pilgrimage during Ramadan -- especially during its last 10 days. 
 
They include the Night of Destiny, when the angel Gabriel is believed to have given the Prophet Mohammed the verses of the Koran. 
 
The incident comes as Saudi authorities continue to unveil new safety measures for this year`s hajj in September. 
 
A crush at last year`s hajj killed more than 2,000 pilgrims in the worst disaster to ever strike the annual ritual.&nbsp;According to figures from foreign officials, at least 2,297 pilgrims died. Saudi Arabia issued a death toll of 769. 
 
Newspapers reported on Friday that, among new security measures, hajj pilgrims this year will have to wear an electronic safety bracelet to store their personal information, including address and medical records. 
 
The hajj and umra pilgrimages bring millions of Muslims to the holy places in Saudi Arabia every year. 
 
(AFP)

Every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Mecca to carry out the lesser umra pilgrimage during Ramadan

Eighteen pilgrims have been injured in a stampede near Islam's holiest site, Saudi media reported on Saturday, as the kingdom continues to review safety after a deadly crush during last year's hajj. The incident happened on Friday night near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Al-Riyadh newspaper said, as Muslims gathered in large numbers to mark the Night of Destiny, one of the high points of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. All the injured were treated at the scene and none required admission to hospital, the newspaper cited a health official as saying. Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Mecca to carry out the lesser umra pilgrimage during Ramadan -- especially during its last 10 days. They include the Night of Destiny, when the angel Gabriel is believed to have given the Prophet Mohammed the verses of the Koran. The incident comes as Saudi authorities continue to unveil new safety measures for this year`s hajj in September. A crush at last year`s hajj killed more than 2,000 pilgrims in the worst disaster to ever strike the annual ritual. According to figures from foreign officials, at least 2,297 pilgrims died. Saudi Arabia issued a death toll of 769. Newspapers reported on Friday that, among new security measures, hajj pilgrims this year will have to wear an electronic safety bracelet to store their personal information, including address and medical records. The hajj and umra pilgrimages bring millions of Muslims to the holy places in Saudi Arabia every year. (AFP)

Eighteen injured in Mecca stampede: Saudi media

Two leading human rights groups urged UN member-states today to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killing of civilians in Yemen and repression at home. 
 
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said they would begin lobbying the UN General Assembly to hold a vote on suspending Saudi Arabia from the Geneva-based council, even though they admitted this was a long shot. 
 
&quot;Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has gone beyond the pale and does not deserve anymore to sit on the Human Rights Council,&quot; said HRW deputy director Philippe Bolopion. 
 
Human Rights Watch accused Riyadh of targeting civilians in the war in Yemen, using cluster bombs banned by international conventions and laying siege to ports to prevent basic goods from reaching Yemen. 
 
The joint appeal again put the spotlight on Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an Arab coalition carrying out air strikes against Huthi rebels and their allies who seized much of Yemen. 
 
The coalition is supporting Yemen&#39;s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in a war that the UN says has killed more than 6,400 people, about half of them civilians since March 2015. 
 
&quot;Saudi Arabia is in a league of its own,&quot; Bolopion told a news conference, adding that the kingdom is &quot;getting away with murder in a way that no other country has been able to do.&quot; 
 
The rights groups charged that Saudi Arabia had used its position as a council member to block an independent international investigation of war crimes in Yemen. 
 
Riyadh pressured UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to remove the coalition from a blacklist of child rights violators by threatening to withdraw funding to UN aid programs. 
 
Saudi Arabia has denied using pressure tactics and insists the coalition is not deliberately targeting civilians in Yemen. 
Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir dismissed the accusations as &quot;outrageous.&quot; 
 
&quot;The coalition is very cautious in selecting targets. We do not harm civilians,&quot; the minister told reporters in Paris.Amnesty International said the Saudi government had brutally cracked down on dissent at home and resorts to executions for offenses that under international law are not punishable by the death penalty. 
 
Since 2013, all prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been either thrown into prison, threatened into silence or have fled the country, said Richard Bennett, Amnesty`s UN director. 
 
Saudi Arabia was elected by the assembly in 2013 to sit on the 47-member council and a two-thirds majority would be needed to remove it from the body, which the rights groups and UN diplomats admitted would be unlikely. 
 
Libya is the only country ever to suspended from the council by a vote held in 2011 to protest Moamer Kadhafi`s violent crackdown on protesters. 
 
The rights groups said Saudi Arabia had managed to get away with such violations because of support from the United States and Britain. 
 
HRW&#39;s director for the Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson, said the United States and Britain had &quot;crossed the threshold to be part of this war&quot; in Yemen by supplying weapons and supporting operations. 
 
The rights group is asking the Pentagon to provide information on how it is supporting the coalition with the choice of targets, said Whitson. 
 
This form of military assistance would make the United States complicit in war crimes, she said. 
 
(AFP)

The groups accuse Riyadh of targeting civilians in the Yemen war & laying seige to the country's ports, blocking basic goods from getting in

Two leading human rights groups urged UN member-states today to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killing of civilians in Yemen and repression at home. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said they would begin lobbying the UN General Assembly to hold a vote on suspending Saudi Arabia from the Geneva-based council, even though they admitted this was a long shot. "Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has gone beyond the pale and does not deserve anymore to sit on the Human Rights Council," said HRW deputy director Philippe Bolopion. Human Rights Watch accused Riyadh of targeting civilians in the war in Yemen, using cluster bombs banned by international conventions and laying siege to ports to prevent basic goods from reaching Yemen. The joint appeal again put the spotlight on Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an Arab coalition carrying out air strikes against Huthi rebels and their allies who seized much of Yemen. The coalition is supporting Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in a war that the UN says has killed more than 6,400 people, about half of them civilians since March 2015. "Saudi Arabia is in a league of its own," Bolopion told a news conference, adding that the kingdom is "getting away with murder in a way that no other country has been able to do." The rights groups charged that Saudi Arabia had used its position as a council member to block an independent international investigation of war crimes in Yemen. Riyadh pressured UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to remove the coalition from a blacklist of child rights violators by threatening to withdraw funding to UN aid programs. Saudi Arabia has denied using pressure tactics and insists the coalition is not deliberately targeting civilians in Yemen. Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir dismissed the accusations as "outrageous." "The coalition is very cautious in selecting targets. We do not harm civilians," the minister told reporters in Paris.Amnesty International said the Saudi government had brutally cracked down on dissent at home and resorts to executions for offenses that under international law are not punishable by the death penalty. Since 2013, all prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been either thrown into prison, threatened into silence or have fled the country, said Richard Bennett, Amnesty`s UN director. Saudi Arabia was elected by the assembly in 2013 to sit on the 47-member council and a two-thirds majority would be needed to remove it from the body, which the rights groups and UN diplomats admitted would be unlikely. Libya is the only country ever to suspended from the council by a vote held in 2011 to protest Moamer Kadhafi`s violent crackdown on protesters. The rights groups said Saudi Arabia had managed to get away with such violations because of support from the United States and Britain. HRW's director for the Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson, said the United States and Britain had "crossed the threshold to be part of this war" in Yemen by supplying weapons and supporting operations. The rights group is asking the Pentagon to provide information on how it is supporting the coalition with the choice of targets, said Whitson. This form of military assistance would make the United States complicit in war crimes, she said. (AFP)

Amnesty, Human Rights Watch want Saudi Arabia off UN Human Rights Council

Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict. 
 
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa. 
 
Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi&#39;ite Islam. 
 
Not targetting civillians: Saudi-led coalition&nbsp; 
Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government. 
 
In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported. 
 
There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations. 
 
Ban urges delegations to avoid driving situation to a crisis&nbsp; 
Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war. 
 
&quot;The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise,&quot; Ban said, according to a text received from the world body. 
 
&quot;I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict,&quot; he added. 
 
The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world&#39;s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. 
 
Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized. 
 
The Yemeni government insists that any new government would only be formed after the Houthis hand over their weapons and turn into a political party. 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp; 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people causing severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in world

Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict. The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa. Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam. Not targetting civillians: Saudi-led coalition Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government. In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported. There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations. Ban urges delegations to avoid driving situation to a crisis Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war. "The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise," Ban said, according to a text received from the world body. "I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he added. The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized. The Yemeni government insists that any new government would only be formed after the Houthis hand over their weapons and turn into a political party. (Reuters)

Seven killed in Saudi-led strikes in Yemen, UN chief pushes combatants to make concessions

Fifty young men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for haircuts, necklaces and other adornments considered un-Islamic. 
 
The suspects were detained during a Ramzan crackdown in the Western Saudi city of Mecca, Islam&#39;s holiest site, according to Saudi news website Sabq. 
 
&quot;They were handed over to the department of criminal investigations,&quot; said Sabq, which accompanied investigators during their visits to shopping areas in the city. 
 
Officers noticed &quot;a number of offences like strange haircuts, chains that are hung upon the chest or arms, head wraps and short clothes and immodest ones -- for both men and women,&quot; reported Sabq, which is close to the authorities. 
 
The law enforcement team, which included women, advised citizens against &quot;habits and traditions that are against religious teachings.&quot; 
 
Islam&#39;s holy fasting month of Ramzan, which ends in early July, is one of the religion&#39;s five pillars. During Ramzan the faithful must devote themselves to piety and charity as well as compassion and generosity. 
 
Saudi Arabia, an absolute Islamic monarchy, is one of the world`s most conservative countries. 
 
Women dress from head to toe in black and are not allowed to drive or mingle with unrelated men. 
 
But more than half of Saudi citizens are under the age of 25, an Internet-savvy generation that spends much of its life online away from official strictures. 
 
One of the kingdom`s most powerful figures, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, is leading the Vision 2030 reform drive to diversify the economy and also bring social change. 
 
The plan calls for more entertainment, cultural and sports opportunities. 
 
In April, cabinet stripped the frequently criticised religious police of their powers to arrest. 
 
Members of the Haia force, among whose duties was to monitor people`s dress, can now only offer advice. They must report violators to regular police officers for follow up. 
 
(AFP) 
&nbsp;

The men were detained during a Ramzan crackdown in the holy city of Mecca

Fifty young men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for haircuts, necklaces and other adornments considered un-Islamic. The suspects were detained during a Ramzan crackdown in the Western Saudi city of Mecca, Islam's holiest site, according to Saudi news website Sabq. "They were handed over to the department of criminal investigations," said Sabq, which accompanied investigators during their visits to shopping areas in the city. Officers noticed "a number of offences like strange haircuts, chains that are hung upon the chest or arms, head wraps and short clothes and immodest ones -- for both men and women," reported Sabq, which is close to the authorities. The law enforcement team, which included women, advised citizens against "habits and traditions that are against religious teachings." Islam's holy fasting month of Ramzan, which ends in early July, is one of the religion's five pillars. During Ramzan the faithful must devote themselves to piety and charity as well as compassion and generosity. Saudi Arabia, an absolute Islamic monarchy, is one of the world`s most conservative countries. Women dress from head to toe in black and are not allowed to drive or mingle with unrelated men. But more than half of Saudi citizens are under the age of 25, an Internet-savvy generation that spends much of its life online away from official strictures. One of the kingdom`s most powerful figures, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, is leading the Vision 2030 reform drive to diversify the economy and also bring social change. The plan calls for more entertainment, cultural and sports opportunities. In April, cabinet stripped the frequently criticised religious police of their powers to arrest. Members of the Haia force, among whose duties was to monitor people`s dress, can now only offer advice. They must report violators to regular police officers for follow up. (AFP)

50 men arrested in Saudi Arabia over 'un-Islamic' haircuts and adornments

<div style="text-align: justify;">US&nbsp;President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia&#39;s powerful deputy crown prince on Friday and the two are expected to discuss conflicts in the Middle East including the campaign against Islamic State, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. 
 
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the United States aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington and to promote a plan to slash the kingdom&#39;s dependence on oil revenues. Friday&#39;s meeting will take place at the White House. 
 
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss issues including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and &quot;our cooperation with the Saudis in the campaign against ISIL,&quot; as Islamic State is also known. 
 
U.S. officials have expressed unease about the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in large-scale civilian casualties, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. 
 
Reuters reported last week that the UN&nbsp;had removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a child rights blacklist after intense pressure by Riyadh. 
 
Prince Mohammed, whose influence in Saudi governing counsels appears to be growing rapidly, is being given wide access to Obama&#39;s administration. 
 
He will visit the White House on Thursday afternoon to meet with Obama&#39;s National Economic Council to discuss the plan the prince is championing to transform the Saudi economy by 2030. US&nbsp;treasury secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be present. 
 
&quot;A lot of our economic officials this afternoon will be meeting with him about how to move that programme forward and adopt best practices,&quot; Schultz said 
 
Prince Mohammed, who is also the Saudi defence minister, also is due to meet US&nbsp;defence secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon on Thursday. 
(Reuters)</div>

Deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the US aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington

US President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince on Friday and the two are expected to discuss conflicts in the Middle East including the campaign against Islamic State, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the United States aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington and to promote a plan to slash the kingdom's dependence on oil revenues. Friday's meeting will take place at the White House. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss issues including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and "our cooperation with the Saudis in the campaign against ISIL," as Islamic State is also known. U.S. officials have expressed unease about the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in large-scale civilian casualties, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. Reuters reported last week that the UN had removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a child rights blacklist after intense pressure by Riyadh. Prince Mohammed, whose influence in Saudi governing counsels appears to be growing rapidly, is being given wide access to Obama's administration. He will visit the White House on Thursday afternoon to meet with Obama's National Economic Council to discuss the plan the prince is championing to transform the Saudi economy by 2030. US treasury secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be present. "A lot of our economic officials this afternoon will be meeting with him about how to move that programme forward and adopt best practices," Schultz said Prince Mohammed, who is also the Saudi defence minister, also is due to meet US defence secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon on Thursday. (Reuters)

Obama to meet Saudi deputy crown prince on Friday:  White House

Saudi Arabia&#39;s deputy crown prince flew to the United States today for meetings with US President Barack Obama and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Saudi media reported. 
 
The visit of Mohammed bin Salman, whose powers include his role as defence minister, comes amid a diplomatic row with the United Nations and policy differences with the United States over the war in Syria and relations with Iran. 
 
Prince Mohammed, spearheading an ambitious plan to revamp the economy of the world&#39;s top oil exporter, will also travel to California where he is expected to meet company executives in Silicon Valley, the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said. 
 
The royal court said in a statement late on Sunday that the prince would discuss ways of strengthening relations with the United States, which have cooled under Obama&#39;s presidency. 
 
Saudi Arabia, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has been critical of what it sees as foot-dragging by Washington over efforts to end the conflict. 
 
It has also urged Obama to take a tougher stand on what Riyadh sees as Iranian meddling in the affairs of Arab states. Iran denies such interference. 
 
Asharq al-Awsat quoted Saudi sources as saying that Prince Mohammed, a son of King Salman, would start his visit in New York where he was expected to meet the UN chief today. 
 
Ban said last week that Saudi Arabia had exerted &quot;unacceptable&quot; pressure on the world body after a UN report blacklisted a Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, a charge denied by the kingdom. 
 
The United Nations removed the coalition from the list after Riyadh threatened to cut its funding of UN programs, diplomatic sources said. 
 
The prince would then meet Obama as well as secretary of state John Kerry and defence secretary Ash Carter in Washington, the newspaper said. 
 
State news agency (SPA) said that a number of senior officials, including finance minister Ibrahim Alassaf and commerce and investment minister Majid al-Qusaibi were part of a delegation accompanying Prince Mohammed, but it did not specify who he would meet during the three-day visit. 
 
Under broad economic reforms announced last week, which aim to free Saudi Arabia of its dependence on oil exports, the kingdom is seeking a big increase in foreign investment and tie-ups with foreign companies in non-oil industries including the technology sector.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil importer, is seeking tie-ups with foreign companies in non-oil industries, like the technology sector

Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince flew to the United States today for meetings with US President Barack Obama and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Saudi media reported. The visit of Mohammed bin Salman, whose powers include his role as defence minister, comes amid a diplomatic row with the United Nations and policy differences with the United States over the war in Syria and relations with Iran. Prince Mohammed, spearheading an ambitious plan to revamp the economy of the world's top oil exporter, will also travel to California where he is expected to meet company executives in Silicon Valley, the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said. The royal court said in a statement late on Sunday that the prince would discuss ways of strengthening relations with the United States, which have cooled under Obama's presidency. Saudi Arabia, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has been critical of what it sees as foot-dragging by Washington over efforts to end the conflict. It has also urged Obama to take a tougher stand on what Riyadh sees as Iranian meddling in the affairs of Arab states. Iran denies such interference. Asharq al-Awsat quoted Saudi sources as saying that Prince Mohammed, a son of King Salman, would start his visit in New York where he was expected to meet the UN chief today. Ban said last week that Saudi Arabia had exerted "unacceptable" pressure on the world body after a UN report blacklisted a Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, a charge denied by the kingdom. The United Nations removed the coalition from the list after Riyadh threatened to cut its funding of UN programs, diplomatic sources said. The prince would then meet Obama as well as secretary of state John Kerry and defence secretary Ash Carter in Washington, the newspaper said. State news agency (SPA) said that a number of senior officials, including finance minister Ibrahim Alassaf and commerce and investment minister Majid al-Qusaibi were part of a delegation accompanying Prince Mohammed, but it did not specify who he would meet during the three-day visit. Under broad economic reforms announced last week, which aim to free Saudi Arabia of its dependence on oil exports, the kingdom is seeking a big increase in foreign investment and tie-ups with foreign companies in non-oil industries including the technology sector.

Saudi Prince to meet Obama to strengthen diplomatic ties

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