Saudi Arabia

11 May 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today ordered the distribution of “Ramadan Aid” worth 1.85 billion riyal ($492.6 million) for social security beneficiaries, the state news agency reported.

Providers of families will get 1,000 riyals ($267) each while family members will get 500 riyals ($133) each.

With curfews in place, oil prices at new lows and pilgrimage cancelled, the Saudi economy is suffering its worst slump in decades.

RIYADH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-led coalition on Sunday rejected as "baseless" the allegation of the Houthis militia that the kingdom deported 800 Somalis to Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Instead, Turki Al Maliki, the coalition spokesman, accused the Houthis of forcefully deporting more than 8,000 Africans, including children and women, from Yemen to Saudi borders in April.

Saudi Arabia had provided the deportees with the required aid, he noted.

9 May 2020; MEMO: Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Saturday that Saudi Arabian authorities recently detained and are holding incommunicado Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, who had previously been netted in an anti-corruption drive and released in late 2017.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US is pulling out four of its powerful Patriot missile systems from Saudi Arabia, after determining the threat from Iran that sparked an arms buildup in the region last year had waned, a Defense Department official said.

Two of the anti-missile batteries deployed following the September attacks on Saudi oil installations “are now leaving,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

7 May 2020; MEMO: Saudi has installed “advanced self-sterilisation gates” at the entrances of the grand mosques in Makkah and Madinah in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

According to Saudi24, the move is part of the government’s “Together Guarded” initiative which has seen precautionary measures put in place since the pandemic hit the kingdom’s shores.

6 May 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s cabinet confirmed that the Palestinian cause will remain a “central issue” for Arabs and Muslims, according to a statement issue by a Saudi Press Agency today.

RIYADH, May 3 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Finance Minister, Mohammed al-Jadaan, said that, his country “must reduce expenditures” to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Saudi Arabia is committed to protecting itself from the economic fallout of COVID-19 through any necessary financial measures, despite plunging oil revenues,” he said, in an interview with Al Arabiya TV.

The minister said that, the kingdom would limit the amount of money it would take from its reserves to a maximum of 32 billion dollars.

1 May 2020; MEMO: Less than 20 princes have contracted the novel coronavirus, the former Saudi intelligence chief, Turki Al-Faisal, announced yesterday.

Al-Faisal comments came in an article entitled “Coronavirus thoughts” in response to a recent report by the New York Times about infected Saudi royals.

30 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s anti-drug unit has captured a shipment of around 44.7 million narcotics pills hidden within herbal beverage packages, which were being smuggled into the kingdom from the Assad regime-controlled areas of Syria.

27 April 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia will abolish the death penalty imposed on those who committed crimes while still minors, the kingdom’s Human Rights Commission has announced.

In a statement published yesterday, president of the state-backed commission Awwad Alawwad said: “The decree helps us in establishing a more modern penal code.”