Saudi Arabia Bans Protest, Oman Replaces 3 High-Level Ministers

Saudi Arabia Protest: Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said that demonstrations would not be tolerated following a protest by about 100 members of the Shiite minority in the eastern region of the kingdom. The Impossible Game new levels is a super-addictive and very, very hard platform game, synced to an awesome soundtrack, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in statement on Saturday.

The kingdom has banned all demonstrations because they contradicted Islamic laws and society s values. The ministry said that some people had tried to go around the law to “achieve illegitimate aims,” and it warned that security forces were authorized to act against violators.

The ban follows a series of protests by Saudi Shias in the kingdom’s east in the past weeks mainly to demand the release of prisoners they say are long held without trial. The demonstration came after Friday prayers in the town of al-Hufouf when the Shiites demanded the release of detainees, including a Shiite cleric who was arrested last week for calling for a constitutional monarchy.

Saudi Shias say they complain they struggle to get senior government jobs and other benefits like other citizens. Sultan Qaboos bin Said ordered the second top-level shake-up in a week Saturday in the tightly controlled Arabian peninsula nation.

Asian stocks up after China currency announcement

SHANGHAI: Asian stock markets rose Monday as investors took heart from China’s announcement over the weekend that it was ending its currency’s two-year peg to the dollar, though there was no immediate change in the yuan’s exchange rate.

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Asian stocks up after China currency announcement

Brazil dent African hopes, beat Ivory Coast

JOHANNESBURG: Brazil dented more African hopes in the World Cup Sunday by outclassing Ivory Coast to sweep into the second round, while European torment increased with an unseemly rebellion in the French camp.

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Brazil dent African hopes, beat Ivory Coast

The Longest Day Of 2010 today

KARACHI: The Summer Solstice 2010 the longest day of the year is today, June 21st 2010.

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The Longest Day Of 2010 today

Suicide bomber kills 8 in north Iraq

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber killed eight people, including six policemen, and wounded 10 in a market in the northern Iraqi town of Shirqat, an Interior Ministry source said.

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Suicide bomber kills 8 in north Iraq

Traders to protest against prolonged power outages

LAHORE: Prolonged power outages continued across the country despite claims of PEPCO about reduction in shortfall.

DG PEPCO Muhammad Khalid said the current power production is 10,420 MW whereas demand has been soared to 14,700 MW. He said load shedding is underway according to schedule and public will get the relief soon.

Meanwhile, the traders of Lahore have announced of holding protest if the situation will not improved within a week.

PHC issues notices to ministries for missing persons

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued notices to the Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry in connection with the missing persons case, Geo News reported Tuesday.

The PHC bench consisting of Chief Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan and Justice Sardar Shaukat Hayat heard various petitions regarding the missing persons.

The court gave more time to the government to recover five missing persons including Qari Manzoor, Ishaq and Rehmatullah and issued notices to the Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry to retrieve Izzat Khan of Badhbeer and Noshehra’s Haji Qamar.

The court also directed the government to expedite efforts for the recovery of Abdullah who went missing from Kohat

Also, the notices were issued to the Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry for the early recovery of Hangu’s Noraseed who went missing from General Bus stand.

Three explosions shake central Baghdad

BAGHDAD: Three large explosions shook central Baghdad on Sunday, British news agency’s witnesses said.

An Interior Ministry source said two were bombs which blew up in the Mansour district of west-central Baghdad, one of them near the German Embassy.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Over 2.5 mln Muslims To Perform Hajj Today

MAKKAH: Heavy rains have failed to dampen the spirits of millions of pilgrims as they readied themselves today on the plains of Arafat where they will pray to the Almighty for His mercy and blessings.

Arafat is the second day of Haj and one of the highpoints of the holy pilgrimage. When dawn breaks, pilgrims will stand on the place where Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered his last sermon 14 centuries ago.

Yesterday pilgrims circumambulated the Ka’ba and then traveled to Mina for the Day of Tarwiyah, where they rested in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Saudi authorities have warned pilgrims to move carefully amid Wednesday’s storms, the first in years to occur during the Haj.

Water seeped into tents in the sprawling tent city in Mina where pilgrims were staying.

“We are staying in tents for now. Heavy rain turned red-carpeted corridors into streams of water with empty cans of soft drinks floating,” Zohra Nasef, from Morocco and on her second Haj, told Reuters.

“Some pilgrims could not find enough space in tents so we deployed additional ones to shelter them,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki.

The pilgrims, however, have continued with their Haj rituals and no evacuation was reported. A power outage hit parts of Makkah, SPA said.

Khaled Merghalani, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the threat of heavy rain in Makkah could result in health risks for pilgrims, but was confident the authorities could handle any crisis.

“We have planned for this possibility,” he said. Plans to counter natural calamities such as heavy rains and floods have been well laid out, said Khaled Al-Habshi from the Red Crescent.

The security and safety of pilgrims has been a major concern for the authorities this year, with certain groups calling to politicize the Haj, the conflict with the infiltrators on the Saudi-Yemeni border, and the threat of swine flu. Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki said Tuesday the government would not allow surprise attacks on pilgrims.

Four pilgrims have already died from the A(H1N1) virus here, the authorities said. On Tuesday the Health Ministry said all hospitals and medical centers in Makkah and the holy sites were prepared to receive flu cases.

“There is no risk of the illness spreading as we are well-prepared and have taken the necessary measures to prevent an outbreak,” Merghalani told a news conference.

Shahul Ebrahim, a consultant from the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC at the Haj, said it was too early to tell if the rains could exacerbate the spread of H1N1, the flu virus. “Rain can lead to other waterborne diseases … such as the common cold, flu. But we still don’t know how it will affect H1N1. We can’t predict,” he told The Associated Press.

So far, the rain has mainly caused traffic snarls. Winter is the rainy season in Makkah, and light showers are not uncommon, but such a heavy downpour has not been seen for years during the Haj.

Civil Defense spokesman Maj. Abdullah Al-Harthi said his organization has plans to deal with flooding, including 300 buses to evacuate pilgrims if necessary. He said no casualties have been reported from the rains, SPA reported.

One lane of the main road into Makkah was closed by flooding, said Amer Al-Amer, an Interior Ministry official. “It cannot handle the pressure of all the people coming from outside Makkah,” he said, adding that it would cause delays of several hours for people trying to reach the sites.

Water covered the floors in many of the tents, said Suleiman Hamad, a 29-year-old pilgrim in Mina. He said the scene was “muddy, but manageable,” with many pilgrims throwing blankets over their heads when they walked outside. Rain fell sporadically throughout the day, and stopped by late afternoon in many sites – though it continued to fall in Makkah.

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Over 2.5 mln Muslims To Perform Hajj Today was first posted on November 26, 2009 at 9:55 am.