Saudi Arabia

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: Rohingya refugees who have been residing in Saudi Arabia for decades will not be sent back to Bangladesh, a top Bangladeshi diplomat said on Wednesday following a recent visit to the kingdom.

"Saudi Arabia didn't say they would send Rohingya back to Bangladesh. And, there was no such issue between the two countries," said Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, referring to his recent meeting with his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir.

11 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced yesterday that it had agreed to a $15 billion multi-currency revolving credit facility with 17 banks.

In a statement reported by news agencies, the PIF said that this load would give it access to extra capital that can be deployed quickly when needed.

11 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia yesterday allowed foreign diplomats to meet human rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul before she appeared in the appeals court in the capital Riyadh.

Video clips showed the Saudi activist greeting diplomats before entering the court building.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who was released last month after three years in prison, said on Wednesday she hoped a Saudi court would amend her sentence as she headed to an appeals hearing.

“Let’s hope the sentence has been changed or modified a little bit. We will see how it goes,” Hathloul, 31, told reporters outside Riyadh’s Special Criminal Court before entering for a second session regarding her appeal.

08 Mar 2021; MEMO: The United States on Monday expressed alarm at "genuine security threats" to Saudi Arabia from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis and elsewhere in the region after attacks on the heart of the Saudi oil industry, and it would look at improving support for Saudi defences, Reuters reported.

RIYADH, Mar 7 (NNN-SPA) – Authorities in Saudi Arabia have shut down 10 mosques in five regions, after 10 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed among worshippers.

Such cases have led to 218 mosques being temporarily closed in the past 26 days, according to Arab News. Of these, 196 have reopened after precautionary measures were completed.

The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance, said, three of the mosques were in Riyadh; two each in Qassim, the Northern Borders and Eastern Province; and one in the southern Dhahran governorate in Asir.

RIYADH, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led coalition involved in a war in Yemen announced on Sunday it had intercepted ten bomb-laden drones in less than five hours, Al Arabiya news channel reported.

Five Houthi drones heading towards Saudi Arabia were intercepted after five others had been downed early on Sunday morning, the report said.

The Houthi militia's attacks targeted civilians and civilian sites in the kingdom, the coalition's spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maliki said on Sunday.

06 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Saudi Arabian-led coalition in Yemen said it destroyed two explosives-laden drones fired by Yemen's Houthi group toward southern Saudi territories, a Saudi-run television said today, Anadolu Agency reports.

Al-Arabiya TV said the coalition announced that the Houthis in Yemen targeted Khamis Mushait and Jazan.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarei said the drones targeted King Khalid Air Base in the Khamis Mushait area.

RIYADH, Mar 6 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that, a child and a man were injured, due to the falling of debris from drone attacks by the Houthis.

The debris of the intercepted drones fell on the country’s Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence was quoted as saying.

The debris also caused damage to some houses.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition revealed, the interception of six bomb-laden drones yesterday, in Khamis Mushait.

06 Mar 2021; MEMO: Activists have revealed that Saudi authorities had started releasing prisoners of conscience not known to the public over the past few days. This comes amid tensions that have marred Riyadh's relations with the current US Biden administration, who criticised the conditions of activists in the kingdom.