Saudi Arabia

28 Sep 2019; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has agreed to a ceasefire with Yemen’s Ansar Allah group (Houthi) in four regions of Yemen, according to Western media reports published on Friday.

RIYADH, Sept 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia threw open its doors to foreign tourists, launching a new visa regime for 49 countries and appealing to foreign companies to invest in a sector it hopes will contribute 10 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes, like segregating men and women in public places and requiring women to wear all-covering black robes, or abayas.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said he bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives “because it happened under my watch,” according to a PBS documentary to be broadcast next week.

It is the first time that Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has publicly indicated personal accountability for the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by operatives seen as close to him. The CIA and some Western governments have said they believe he ordered it, but Saudi officials say he had no role.

ADEN, Sept 22 (NNN-SABA) – Yemen’s newly-appointed ministers of finance and foreign affairs were formally sworn in on Saturday.

The swearing-in took place at the presidential office in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, where high-ranking Yemeni government officials are temporarily based, along with Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The ministers thanked Hadi for his trust and vowed to exert hard efforts in performing their missions.

RIYADH, Sept 22 (NNN-SPA) – With celebrations of Saudi Arabia’s 89th National Day in full swing this weekend, a series of spectacular shows were and will be launched in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to mark the event.

An entertainment show “Tariq Al Himma” will be held in the capital Riyadh, until tomorrow Sept 23, where the audience will embark on an artistic journey depicting the path that the kingdom is on and heading towards the future.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco has emerged from attacks on its oil facilities “stronger than ever”, Chief Executive Amin Nasser told employees in a message, adding that full oil production would resume by the end of this month.

The Sept. 14 attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants, some of the kingdom’s biggest, caused raging fires and significant damage that halved the crude output of the world’s top oil exporter, by shutting down 5.7 million barrels per day of production.

KHURAIS, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Friday took media to inspect oil facilities hit by attacks that Washington and Riyadh blame on Iran, showing melted pipes and burnt equipment, as Tehran vowed wide retaliation if tensions raised by the strikes boil over into hostilities.

The kingdom sees the Sept 14 strikes on its Khurais and Abqaiq facilities — the worst attack on Gulf oil infrastructure since Iraq’s Saddam Hussein torched Kuwaiti oilfields in 1991 — as a test of global will to preserve international order.

KHURAIS, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco is confident full production will resume by the end of September from Khurais, one of two oil sites attacked about a week ago, a company executive said on Friday.

Aramco was shipping equipment from the United States and Europe to rebuild the damaged facilities, Fahad Abdulkarim, Aramco’s general manager for the southern area oil operation, told reporters on a tour organized by the state company.

ABU DHABI, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States wants a peaceful solution to the crisis sparked by attacks on Saudi oil facilities, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, after Iran raised the prospect of “all-out war”.

After meeting with allies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, Pompeo said there was an “enormous consensus in the region” that Iran carried out Saturday’s attacks, despite its denials.

“I didn’t hear anyone in the region who doubted that for a single moment,” he told reporters.

RIYADH, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has shown off what it says is wreckage of drones and cruise missiles that proves Iranian involvement in weekend attacks on two oil facilities.

It said 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were fired from a direction that ruled out Yemen as a source.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have said they are behind the attacks.

Iran has denied any involvement and warned it would retaliate against any attack that targeted it.