Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A very small, limited number of people donning the white terrycloth garment symbolic of the Muslim pilgrimage circled Islam’s holiest site in Mecca on Sunday after Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus restrictions that had been in place for months.

The kingdom had taken the rare step of suspending the smaller “umrah” pilgrimage that draws millions year-round from across the world in early March as the coronavirus morphed into a global pandemic and prompted countries to impose lockdowns and curfews to slow down transmission.

29 Sep 2020; MEMO: Increasing numbers of wealthy Saudis are securing plans to escape the kingdom by purchasing foreign passports in fear of political repression which has been on the rise since Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman came to power.

29 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi traders who import goods from Turkey to the kingdom have recently signed pledges for the Saudi Trade Ministry not to import goods from there again, the Twitter account Mujtahidd revealed on Sunday.

The Saudi traders were summoned to the ministry and their commercial activities were investigated; they were then asked to stop importing goods from Turkey.

RIYADH, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led coalition said on Sunday that 15 Saudi prisoners are to be released by Houthis as per the Yemeni prisoner exchange agreement, Saudi Arabia's local Al Akhbariya TV reported.

Yemen's warring sides have agreed earlier on Sunday to exchange 1,081 detainees and prisoners during the first stage of talks in Switzerland.

The coalition spokesperson Turki Al Maliki told a press conference in Riyadh that the Yemeni government will release 681 prisoners and the Houthi militia will release 400 others.

RIYADH, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The 2020 G20 Leaders' Summit will be held virtually on Nov. 21 to 22, chaired by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's G20 presidency said in a statement early Monday.

The statement said the Saudi G20 presidency will "build on the success of the extraordinary virtual G20 Leaders' Summit held in March and on the outcomes of over 100 virtual working groups and ministerial meetings."

23 Sep 2020; MEMO: A group of Saudi dissidents, most of them in exile, on Wednesday announced the formation of a party to push for political reform in Saudi Arabia in defiance of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has moved to crush any dissent, Reuters reports.

The world’s top oil exporter and US ally is an absolute monarchy without an elected parliament or political parties. Past attempts to organise politically in the Gulf state in 2007 and 2011 were suppressed and members arrested.

23 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia will gradually lift a coronavirus related ban for Umrah pilgrimage starting early next month, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported early today.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia will gradually resume the year-round umrah pilgrimage from 4 October.

22 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has asked Russia to intervene and help prevent the strategic city of Marib from falling into the hands of Yemen’s Houthis, the Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The paper quoted sources as saying that the Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal Bin Farhan, spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and asked him to mediate between the kingdom and the Houthis to stop the group from advancing towards Marib.

20 Sep 2020; MEMO: Five civilians were injured when a military projectile launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis hit a village in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jazan region, state media reported on Saturday, Reuters reports.

State news agency SPA quoted a civil defence spokesman as saying three cars were damaged in the border village and that the five civilians suffered minor injuries from shrapnel.

18 Sep 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s oil exports declined 62 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, the state-run Saudi General Authority for Statistics announced yesterday.

In an official statement, the authority said that the kingdom’s oil exports amounted to some 74.8 billion riyals ($19.9 billion) during the second quarter of this year.

Crude exports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, have continued to decline as global demand dropped as a result of the novel coronavirus.