Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Sept 28 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Alkhorayef, revealed yesterday, the kingdom’s plan to build a competency-based industrial sector, Al Ekhbariya local TV reported.

He made the remarks during a meeting, about the newly launched Human Capability Development Programme, highlighting that, Saudi companies have high capabilities and international competitiveness.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: Saudi authorities yesterday released human rights defender, Abdul Rahman Al-Shamiri, after detaining him for 15 years .

The rights organisation ALQST and the Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account quoted sources as saying that Al-Shimiri was released "following the expiry of his sentence."

Al-Shamiri is a retired Saudi academic who worked at Umm Al-Qura University, he was also a consultant in the kingdom's Shura Council for years.

15 Sep 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has reached out to Israel over the possibility of procuring missile defence systems, according to trade-specific news and analysis magazine Breaking Defence. The Iron Dome manufactured by Israel's defence technology company Rafael and Barak ER produced by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) are two of the options being considered by Riyadh.

RIYADH, Sept 16 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, launched yesterday, the Human Capability Development Programme (HCDP). It is one of the programmes to achieve Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

“The Human Capability Development Programme represents a national strategy to enhance the competitiveness of national human capabilities, locally and globally, to be ready for the current and future labour market,” the crown prince said.

14 Sep 2021; MEMO: The authorities in Saudi Arabia have sentenced 24 people to 20 years in prison each having found them guilty of money laundering, the Saudi Press Agency has reported. The gang was accused of money laundering a total of $4.5 billion.

13 Sep 2021; MEMO: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz yesterday dismissed the chief of special affairs Nasser Al-Nafisi from his position, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

SPA said the king replaced Al-Nafisi with Abdulaziz Al-Faisal.

The Saudi king also ordered the appointment of Majed Bin Muhammad Al Mazyed as Governor of the National Cybersecurity Authority and Badr Bin Abdulrahman Al-Qadi as Deputy Minister of Sports.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: Saudi news channels have been instructed to begin transferring their operations from Dubai to Riyadh as part of a drive by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to turn the Saudi capital into a major business hub to rival the UAE.

01 Sep 2021; MEMO: A woman in Saudi Arabia has been awarded at least two million riyals ($533,334) after being accidentally swapped at birth with another baby and being raised by a poor family for over three decades.

The claimant, now aged 35 was born to wealthy parents at a government-run hospital in Makkah, according to local newspaper Al-Watan. However, a nurse who had bathed the new-born babies mistakenly returned them to the wrong mothers.

20 Aug 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's lobbying efforts in the US have been given a massive shot in the arm after a former chair of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican member of Congress Ed Royce, registered his name as a foreign agent for Riyadh.

MECCA, Aug 11 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia resumed allowing travellers from abroad to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the kingdom announced this week, a new easing of the restrictions imposed last year, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at Islamic holy sites.

Aspiring pilgrims can now apply to perform the lesser pilgrimage, known as umrah, as long as they can provide proof that they have received a vaccine approved by the Saudi authorities. The new policy took effect on Monday.