Umrah pilgrims killed in traffic accident en route to Madinah
Umrah pilgrims killed in traffic accident en route to Madinah/node/2069126/saudi-arabia
Umrah pilgrims killed in traffic accident en route to Madinah
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Paramedics from the Saudi Red Crescent are on the Al-Hijra Road in Friday morning, moments before the injured were taken to several hospitals in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. (Supplied/ SRCA)
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Paramedics from the Saudi Red Crescent are on the Al-Hijra Road in Friday morning, moments before the injured were taken to several hospitals in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. (Supplied/ SRCA)
Umrah pilgrims killed in traffic accident en route to Madinah
An eyewitness confirmed to Arab News that most of those killed were Egyptians and Sudanese
Updated 24 April 2022
Hebshi Alshammari
RIYADH: Eight pilgrims were killed and 13 were injured on their way to Madinah when the bus they were traveling in overturned on Friday morning.
A Saudi Red Crescent Authority operations room received a notification at 6:14 a.m. on Friday stating that a bus had overturned on Al-Hijra Road, near the town of Wadi Al-Fara, according to a statement issued on Friday evening.
The authority’s vehicles and teams were immediately directed to deal with the accident and the injured travelers, said Dr. Ahmed Al-Zahrani, director general of the SRCA branch in Madinah. He added that 20 ambulance teams and six teams responded to the incident.
An eyewitness confirmed to Arab News that most of those killed were Egyptians and Sudanese and that the bus had most likely veered off the road.
Al-Zahrani said there were 51 people on the bus. Three people were seriously injured and there were 10 who were moderately injured. The condition of the remaining passengers was stable by the time the teams arrived on the scene.
Five of the injured were taken to hospitals in the area once they had been given on-site treatment and triage by the emergency teams.
“The emergency teams were present at the site until the completion of the Civil Defense work to get the trapped people out of the bus and the deceased were transferred through the non-ambulatory transportation of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority,” he said.
The Al-Hijra Road links the two holy cities. The pilgrims had completed Umrah and were going to Madinah to spend time there.
Earlier this month, on April 16, another bus carrying pilgrims overturned. One person died and several were injured.
RIYADH: Palestinian-American contestant Yasser Omar Shaheen, a Hollywood film and television scriptwriter, was a participant in the latest episode of the international Qur’an recitation and adhan competition.
Shaheen entertained the viewers with his melodic voice and distinctive recitation of the Qur’an.
The “Otr Elkalam” TV show, which is being supervised by the General Entertainment Authority and is broadcast on MBC1 and the Shahid digital platform, has a total prize pool of SR12 million ($3.2 million).
Shaheen said: “My life is a mixture of memorizing and reciting the Holy Qur’an and writing scripts in Hollywood, where I have supervised the production of more than 130 programs, produced 14 documentaries, and contributed to several shows on TV channels of Arab and Islamic countries.”
He enjoys teaching Muslim children the verses of the Qur’an and the rules of intonation in mosques in Dallas, Texas. Shaheen also works as a faculty member at San Jose University in California.
Several competitions resulted in his participation in “Otr Elkalam” and its first episode featured 32 contestants from around the world.
It also focused on last year’s winners of the Qur’an recitation and adhan competitions, Younes Gharbi from Morocco and Mohsen Kara of Turkiye, respectively.
The “Otr Elkalam” competition is designed to highlight the rich diversity of cultures in the Islamic world, and the vocal methods of reciting the Qur’an and raising the call to prayer.
More than 50,000 entrants from 165 countries were whittled down to 50 for the final stage, which is held in Riyadh.
Another selection process by the main jury then left 32 contestants, 16 for each competition.
Finding treasures at the Islamic Arts Biennale’s Al-Matjar in Jeddah
Sustainability key to the concept store; more than 620 rare, custom-made items on display
Updated 26 March 2023
Jasmine Bager
JEDDAH: Visitors to the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah can pick up Ramadan-themed items and intricate works of art at the on-site Al-Matjar concept store, a retail space developed by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
“The biennale store is never, ever the same. We change it every week. The only constant is that you’ll see is the Diriyah Foundation merchandise,” Dalia Al Akki, the store representative, told Arab News.
According to Al Akki, the DBF hopes the shop can become one of Jeddah’s new cultural destinations. It aims to have something for everyone — and allow them to take a bit of the Biennale’s “Awwal Bait” (First House) theme back home with them.
“The idea of this collaboration is that the Diriyah Foundation wants to open a platform to support digital artists. It’s like a marketing tool for us to use their illustrations and create merch with them, or stationery, or puzzles,” she said. “We didn’t want to just do merchandise this year; we wanted to really enhance this idea of collaboration.”
Since the biennale is a temporary exhibition, the idea was to create tangible items that people can take back home with them.
The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)
After thorough research, they reached out to around 180 brands, of which 95 made it to the shelves. Since the DBF is a non-profit organization, it was obligated to use the space as a launching pad for brands and to cultivate creativity.
“Some of these items are very rare and very beautiful, and soon they’ll be collectible,” Al Akki said proudly.
HIGHLIGHT
The store prioritizes collaborating with brands that focus on sustainability, and many of the over 620 items are rare and custom-made. According to Dalia Al Akki, every item in the store will be reused, including the wayfinding flags that will be repurposed into tote bags later.
It was always meant to be a pop-up shop, which is perhaps part of the allure. If you like something, pick it up and buy it instantly or it might be gone. Maybe forever. Many items were custom-made for the shop and won’t ever be sold anywhere else.
The galag garage exclusive capsule collection created in collaboration with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. (Photo/Instagram/ @galag.co)
There’s one section that is distinctly pre-owned. It is dedicated to selling secondhand books and Al Akki hopes this will help shift people’s perception of pre-owned and think of it as ‘pre-loved.’
“We know a guy that collects books from all over the region, so we really wanted to add that in,” she explained. “A lot of artists actually just buy books and end up throwing them. A lot of people in the Kingdom don’t know the value of these books. But for us, secondhand books are still valuable. We even have vintage magazines.”
She said that she has been surprised by the popularity of the secondhand books and have had to replenish their stocks.
The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)
“We also work with a lot of product makers (who focus on) sustainability. Nothing in the store is going to be thrown away; everything is going to be reused — even the wayfinding flags; we are actually taking them and making tote bags out of them for next year,” she said. “We are supporting local and international artists and sustainability is a main goal.”
It was crucial for the curation of the products to be inclusive of different countries and styles, as well as price ranges, and to provide something that non-Muslims could buy too.
“What’s amazing about the whole idea of this pop-up store is that we really get to know the community — beyond the Kingdom. We can’t wait for the (next Biennale cycle) because there’s so many places you could go. I mean, this was limited, challenging, but definitely worth it,” Al Akki said. “We’ve learned, we’ve grown, we’ve met many beautiful people along the way.”
The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)
One of those people is Sultan bin Mohammed, the shy-but-charming millennial leader of the Galag Garage clothing brand (Galag translates to “nuisance”).
He was proud to take part in this pop-up store in his hometown of Jeddah and is shaking up the shop — one stitch at a time.
The filmmaker and entrepreneur showed Arab News his exclusive capsule Galag collection, created in collaboration with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation store. Rows of durable-but-soft hoodies, t-shirts, tote bags and caps with the word “Galag” written in Arabic using the custom biennale font and typography.
“They (Diriyah Biennale Foundation) wanted really to represent the structures in the Hajj terminal. So I wanted to recreate that, but give a bit of a retro-wave design,” he told Arab News.
He also added elements that are distinctly ‘Galag,’ such as images of vintage cars.
“We wanted something that’s wearable, has a bit of style, has a bit of weight to it — something that people would be happy and comfortable with. We decided to do very simple but high-quality material with interesting colors,” bin Mohammed told Arab News.
Most of those color inspirations were derived from local nature. The sandy hoodie has a bit of saturated blue that pops — meant to represent the sky. The white hoodie, in contrast, was meant to be muted.
“Every color choice here is meant to look better with age; so the longer we wear it, the better it looks — that was the concept,” he said.
Like Al Akki, bin Mohammed was adamant that he wanted to produce something that would last.
“Sustainability is a huge thing. We really wanted to use something that lasts — something that you can wear for years, maybe put in your closet then bring it out and it still keeps its shape; it keeps the quality and it doesn’t disintegrate,” bin Mohammed said.
He was also keen to have the date incorporated into the t-shirts. “It’s the first Islamic Arts Biennale and to have the date on it to commemorate it was really important. I think it’s really cool to have a piece of history. It’s great that we’re a small part of that,” said bin Mohammed.
King Salman, Crown Prince congratulate President Sakellaropoulou on Greek national day
Updated 25 March 2023
Arab News
RIYADH: King Salman sent a cable of congratulations to President Katerina Sakellaropoulou of Greece on Saturday on the anniversary of her country’s Independence Day.
The king expressed his best wishes for the president’s good health and happiness, and for the government and people of Greece steady progress and prosperity.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also congratulated President Sakellaropoulou on the Greek indepedence day, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Earlier this month, Alexis Konstantopoulos, the ambassador of Greece to Saudi Arabia, highlighted the importance of enduring relations between the nations at the European country's national day celebration on March 15.
Konstantopoulos told Arab News: “Greece and Saudi Arabia are stronger together, and as we celebrate joys and successes, tonight we celebrate not only our national day but our vibrant, strong and strategic partnership.”
17k held for labor, residency, border violations in Saudi Arabia
A further 68 people were caught trying to cross into neighboring countries, and 18 were held for involvement in transporting and harboring violators
Updated 25 March 2023
Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi authorities arrested almost 17,000 people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security regulations, according to an official report.
From March 16 to 22, a total of 9,259 people were arrested for violations of residency rules, while 4,899 were held over illegal border crossing attempts, and a further 2,491 for labor-related issues.
The report showed that among the 1,132 people arrested for trying to enter the Kingdom illegally, 45 percent were Yemeni, 52 percent Ethiopian, and 3 percent were of other nationalities.
A further 68 people were caught trying to cross into neighboring countries, and 18 were held for involvement in transporting and harboring violators.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior said that anyone found to be aiding illegal entry to the Kingdom, including transporting and providing shelter, could face imprisonment for a maximum of 15 years, a fine of up to SR1 million ($260,000), or confiscation of vehicles and property.
Suspected violations can be reported on the toll-free number 911 in the Makkah and Riyadh regions, and 999 or 996 in other regions of the Kingdom.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim leaves Madinah
Al-Jasser said that Malaysia is a model of success embodied in social and economic achievements
Updated 25 March 2023
Arab News
MADINAH: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Saturday left Madinah after visiting the Prophet’s Mosque, where he performed prayers.
Upon his departure from Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah, the prime minister was seen off by Prince Saud bin Khalid Al-Faisal, deputy governor of Madinah, and other key officials.
On Wednesday, Ibrahim arrived in Jeddah. Later, he performed Umrah rituals at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
During his trip, Ibrahim met Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group Mohammad Al-Jasser.
Al-Jasser said that Malaysia is a model of success embodied in social and economic achievements.
Ibrahim also acknowledged the valuable role played by the IDB in both the economic support it provided to member states and the humanitarian assistance it offered to vulnerable societies worldwide.
He added that his visit constituted an excellent opportunity to discuss strengthening cooperation between the IDB and Malaysia.
