RIYADH: Minister of Economy and Planning Khaled Al-Gosaibi said the 79th National Day is being celebrated with the authorities and the people reviewing the achievements of the Kingdom since its founding.
JEDDAH: An ongoing survey on the Internet has revealed that more than 28 percent of the citizens believe that tribal affiliation would play a pivotal role in the municipal elections to be held on Sept. 29.
JEDDAH: Representatives of more than 50 airlines, involved in Haj operations, have reiterated to exert all efforts to ensure a smooth arrival and departure of the guests of God.
JEDDAH: Justice Minister Muhammad Al-Eissa said firewalls would be used to protect title deeds, which have been computerized, from being tampered by hackers, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
RIYADH: A number of businessmen have expressed fears that the experiment of employing women in shops selling feminine products only might not succeed due to unjustified pressures by certain government bodies, local daily Al-Riyadh said.
Despite the introduction of the Saher electronic system in the Kingdom last year, our traffic system is still in dire need of an in-depth study.
WASHINGTON: Bahrain is holding key by-elections on Saturday to fill 18 parliamentary seats left vacant when deputies from the main opposition Wefaq party MPs walked out of the 40-member Parliament in February protesting a government crackdown on protesters.
AMMAN: Hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated across the country on Friday calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit’s government, the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Amman.
TRIPOLI: For the rebels who toppled Muammar Qaddafi, the new Libyan era has ushered in unbounded political freedom and deep personal joy. For Dijmon, a 25-year-old Nigerian laborer in the newly captured capital, it brought fear.
CAIRO: Egypt’s military ruler says he will testify in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak after failing to attend a previous session.
ISTANBUL: A Turkish oil exploration vessel left the Aegean port of Izmir on Friday to carry out surveys off northern Cyprus amid tensions with Greek Cypriots on the divided island over rights to hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s leadership has changed the draft of a long awaited oil and gas law in a way that would give central government more control over the country’s vast crude reserves and provoke a clash with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
RABAT: Moroccan security has arrested three people, including an active blogger on jihadist websites, who had planned to receive training at an Al-Qaeda camp abroad in order to carry out attacks in Morocco, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.
White House urges Islamabad to break ties with Haqqanis
ISLAMABAD: Washington’s stunning charge that Pakistan’s spy service is backing violence against US targets in Afghanistan has pushed Islamabad into a tight corner: either it cleans up the powerful agency or it faces the wrath of an angry superpower.
MANGAN, India: Soldiers in India’s northeast have reached the last villages cut off by landslides from a powerful earthquake that shook the Himalayan region last weekend and killed more than 100 people, an army officer said Friday.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: Predictions for the timing and path of a falling defunct NASA satellite shifted on Friday and officials put North America back in a potential area where the debris could come crashing down.
MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told his ruling United Russia party on Friday it must listen to voters and explain its policies better if it wanted to reverse a decline in popularity before a parliamentary election.
CARACAS: Through a stench of urine infused with marijuana, inmates of Venezuela’s La Planta prison brandish machine guns, rifles and grenades while enjoying music blaring from a 6-foot high stack of speakers.
BERLIN: Pope Benedict told German Muslims in Berlin on Friday they can expect cooperation and support from Roman Catholics as long as they respect Germany’s constitution and the limits it sets on pluralism.
JEDDAH: The International Islamic Relief Organization-Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) has distributed more than 8 million kg of food in addition to clothes and medicine in famine-ravaged Somalia.
JEDDAH: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) launched Friday at the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah a two-month awareness campaign against child abuse with a view to enlightening parents about the hazards of physical violence.
AMMAN: Syrian forces killed at least two protesters when they fired live ammunition to disperse pro-democracy protests that broke out across the country after Friday prayers in intensified assaults to crush the six-month uprising, activists said.
BENGHAZI/SIRTE, Libya: Libya’s interim rulers will announce a “crisis” government within the next few days, signalling a breakthrough in efforts to form a more inclusive administration after the war that ousted Muammar Qaddafi.
LUSAKA: Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata, a critic of Chinese investment, was sworn in as president on Friday after an upset poll victory that ushered in a smooth handover of power in Africa’s biggest copper producer.
MANNAR, Sri Lanka: Wearing a visor and a protective vest over grey fatigues tucked into black military boots, former housewife S. Dishanty crawls on her hands and knees through dense bush, slowly inching forward and methodically scanning the ground.
LUFENG, China, Sept 23 : Hundreds of villagers in southern China protested on Friday over a government seizure of land, the latest outbreak of trouble in the economic powerhouse of Guangdong province that illustrates growing public anger at the practice of land grabs.
RIYADH: Saudis and expatriates from all walks of life celebrated the Kingdom's National Day on Friday. Celebrations began on the eve of the National Day with many areas staging traditional folk dances and children and adults buying flags and pictures of leaders in earnest.
SANAA: President Ali Abdullah Saleh unexpectedly returned to Yemen on Friday after three months in Saudi Arabia recovering from an assassination attempt, raising the risk of further violence.
