October 24, 2017
By Richard Wachman
Dubai: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (click here) on Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans for a new city state that would also straddle Jordan and Egypt in the kingdom’s northwest with up to $500bn in investments.
Called Neom, the city will be powered by solar and wind energy, and is likely to have more robots than people living there.
The business zone, spanning 26,500 square kilometers, would be a showcase for modernity, Saudi ingenuity and new technologies, the Crown Prince told a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh....
During Hajj (click here) everyone receives medical care. I suppose one can call it "International Health Care."
October 25, 2017
Riyadh: Saudi Minister of Health Tawfiq Al-Rabiah (click here) stressed that the Kingdom is one of the leading references in the area of mass gatherings medicine and management, with its well-known experiences in this field.
His statement came during the inauguration of the third International Conference for Mass Gatherings Medicine on Tuesday, which was held under the auspices of King Salman, and organized by the Ministry of Health at Al-Faisal University in Riyadh.
Al-Rabiah said that the ministry and its officials give their utmost attention to providing the best health care services during Hajj season according to an annual plan implemented in different stages, which begin well before the start of Hajj season.
He added: “This scientific gathering is of utmost importance because it coincides with the policy of making public health a priority in all laws and regulations for fighting preventing diseases.”...
Pakistan has an illegal immigrant problem. Could be the end of extremists harboring there to hide from justice.
Pilgrims can travel to a country and then stay beyond the holiday. These pilgrims are called "over stayers." It is a problem for the countries. It is difficult to police over stayers.
October 24, 2017
Jeddah: Pakistan topped the list of over-stayers (click here) in the last 2016-2017 Umrah season with the number reaching 6,905 out of total of 1,453,440 Umrah pilgrims, according to Al-Hayat daily.
Nigeria came second with 1,629 over-stayers, followed by Egypt with 1,081. Indonesia and Sudan came in the fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the same number of 592 over-stayers from each country.
On the other hand, Indonesia came second on the list of top 10 countries for the number of Umrah pilgrims last season, with the number reaching 876,246, followed by Egypt with 608,561 pilgrims. India came fourth with 525,278, and Turkey came sixth with 440,398 pilgrims.
A pilot meeting organized by the National Committee for Hajj and Umrah, chaired by Marwan Shaaban, stressed the importance of the adherence of Umrah companies to the new system which was recently launched by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, aiming to change the field into a professional industry in line with Vision 2030....
