Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 2m amphetamine tablets

Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 2m amphetamine tablets
Officials seized 2,035,200 amphetamine pills hidden among a shipment of kitchen wood planks. (SPA)
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Updated 30 November 2022

Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 2m amphetamine tablets

Saudi authorities thwart bid to smuggle 2m amphetamine tablets
  • Officials seized 2,035,200 pills found hidden in shipment of kitchen wood planks

RIYADH: Saudi authorities in Riyadh have thwarted an attempt to smuggle millions of amphetamine tablets, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

Spokesman for the General Directorate of Narcotics Control, Maj. Mohammed Al-Nujaidi, said that during a security follow-up operation on drug smuggling and distribution networks targeting the Kingdom, officials seized 2,035,200 amphetamine pills that had been hidden among a shipment of kitchen wood planks.

Four people found in possession of drugs were arrested in Riyadh and have been referred to the Public Prosecution.

Al-Nujaidi said the Interior Ministry, through its various security agencies and in coordination with the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority, would continue to deal firmly with any individuals caught trying to sneak drugs into the country.


Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack
Updated 1 min 5 sec ago

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack

Female shooter kills 3 children, 3 adults in Nashville school attack
  • Deadly mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, but a female attacker is highly unusual
  • There have been 89 school shootings — defined as anytime a gun is discharged on school property — in the US so far in 2023

At least three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday before police shot dead the shooter, who appeared to be a teenage girl.
Police began receiving calls of a shooter at The Covenant School at 10:13 a.m.. Officers could hear gunfire coming from the school’s second floor, Don Aaron, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, told reporters.
The shooter had at least two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, Aaron said. Two officers from a five-member team shot at her in what Aaron described as a lobby area and she was dead by 10:27 a.m..
“We do not know who she is at this juncture,” Aaron said.
Deadly mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, but a female attacker is highly unusual. Only four of the 191 mass shootings since 1966 catalogued by The Violence Project, a nonprofit research center, were carried out by a female attacker.
There have been 89 school shootings — defined as anytime a gun is discharged on school property — in the US so far in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, a website founded by researcher David Riedman. Last year saw 303 such incidents, the highest of any year in the database, which goes back to 1970.
Three students were pronounced dead after arriving at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds, John Howser, a hospital spokesperson, said in a statement. Three adult staff members were killed by the shooter, police said.
Besides the deceased, no one else was shot, Aaron said.
Students’ parents were told to gather at a nearby church.
The Covenant School, founded in 2001, is a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville with about 200 students, according to the school’s website. The school serves preschool through 6th graders and held an active shooter training program in 2022, WTVF-TV reported.


Belarusian FM backs Saudi Expo 2030 bid

Abdulrahman Suleiman Al-Ahmad, who is also the Kingdom’s ambassador to Russia, spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik
Abdulrahman Suleiman Al-Ahmad, who is also the Kingdom’s ambassador to Russia, spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik
Updated 21 min 29 sec ago

Belarusian FM backs Saudi Expo 2030 bid

Abdulrahman Suleiman Al-Ahmad, who is also the Kingdom’s ambassador to Russia, spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik
  • The host country for the Expo 2030 is expected to be announced in November

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Belarus met with Minsk’s top diplomat on Tuesday last week.

Abdulrahman Suleiman Al-Ahmad, who is also the Kingdom’s ambassador to Russia, spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik about a number of issues.

Aleinik relayed to Al-Ahmad his country’s support for Saudi Arabia’s bid to host Expo 2030. He added that Riyadh would stage the event to a “high standard” and that Minsk would contribute any assistance required in making it a success, a Belarusian Foreign Ministry statement said.

Also on the agenda were development of political dialogue, the prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation and investment interaction between the Kingdom and Belarus.

The host country for the Expo 2030 is expected to be announced in November, Riyadh is competing with Rome, South Korea’s Busan and Ukraine’s Odessa.


UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis
Updated 37 min 45 sec ago

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis

UK travel agent makes millions off migrant accommodation crisis
  • Hoban’s company made over £6m in 2022 primarily by finding bridging hotels for Afghan refugees

LONDON: A former travel agent made £2.19 million ($2.7 million) in 2022 from winning UK government contracts to house migrants in hotels, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.

Debbie Hoban is one of the most prominent private-sector chiefs profiting from the UK’s crippling refugee crisis.

Her Leeds-based company, Calder Conferences, made more than £6 million last year, primarily by finding bridging hotels for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.

The company is now among many being paid to house small-boat arrivals and other asylum seekers in nearly 400 hotels throughout the UK, the Daily Mail reported.

Hoban lives in a £3 million country farmhouse with four bedrooms, a triple garage, swimming pool, jacuzzi, and basement wine cellar. Social media shows on her lavish trips to India’s Taj Mahal and attending the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

The BBC revealed that due to a severe scarcity of official accommodation a total of 395 hotels in the UK are being used to house 51,000 asylum seekers. This costs taxpayers more than £6.8 million per day.

“The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain,” a British Home Office spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

“The Home Office is committed to making every effort to reduce hotel use and limit the burden on the taxpayer,” they added.

In early 2020, Calder was reported to have had secret talks on behalf of the Ministry of Justice to support housing up to 2,000 prisoners in a Butlin’s holiday camp in the English east-coast town of Skegness to alleviate the jails crisis during the coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Mail reported.

Calder’s representatives met with Butlin’s executives and discussed a £10 million scheme to place low-risk prisoners in leisure facilities. However, senior government officials halted the plan before it could be implemented.

The Daily Mail approached Calder Conferences for a comment, but were told, “we decline to comment.”


The Hotel Show to take place in Dubai in May

The Hotel Show to take place in Dubai in May
Updated 46 min 17 sec ago

The Hotel Show to take place in Dubai in May

The Hotel Show to take place in Dubai in May
  • Three-day exhibition will feature 100 experts and include seminars, meetings and conferences

DUBAI: Around 13,000 people from the hospitality industry are set to gather in Dubai on May 23 for The Hotel Show, Emirates News Agency reported.

The three-day exhibition, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, coincides with a regional expansion in hospitality investment led largely by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia alone needs to accommodate the 100 million tourists it hopes to attract by 2030 with a hotel pipeline valued at $110 billion, while the UAE hospitality market is expected to expand by 25 percent over the same period adding a further 48,000 rooms to its room stock” Elaine O’Connell, vice president of design and hospitality at DMG Events, said. 

“This offers unprecedented opportunity for developers, equipment and product suppliers, designers and operators,” she added.

Through conferences and seminars, the exhibition will provide insight into regional hotel prospects. Meanwhile, over 100 experts will take the stage at the event. 

This year, the event’s profile will include new content and features in three key industry verticals: Hospitality technology, operating equipment & supplies, and food and beverages. 

O’Connell said: “For years, the Middle East has been a change influencer for the sector and its willingness to quickly address game-changing issues signals that it intends to retain that mantle. 

“Coupled with the excitement around ongoing regional developments, the growing regional drive to net zero, increasing data regulation and the need to meet rising consumer demands for greener facilities and services, the region, and The Hotel Show Dubai, are again at the fulcrum of sectoral change.”

The UAE Professional Housekeepers Group Meeting will also be held at the exhibition, with in-depth discussions and tutorials on maintaining excellence in the face of changing market conditions, including changing guest expectations, emerging technologies, techniques, regulations, and products. 

In addition, nine culinary teams from the region’s top hotels will compete over three days to create a stunning five-course meal in the hopes of winning the coveted title of Hotel Culinary Team of the Year.


Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly
Updated 3 min 55 sec ago

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly

Saudi national team in training ahead of Bolivia friendly
  • The Green Falcons are holding one final training session before the Bolivia match on Monday evening, open to the media

JEDDAH: The Saudi Arabia national team continued their training camp on Sunday ahead of Tuesday's friendly with Bolivia at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium.

The training session was held under the supervision of head coach Herve Renard, and included possession exercises and mini-matches.

Players Hassan Al-Tambukti, Abdel-Rahman Al-Aboud and Riyad Sharahili had to miss out on the training session due to injury.

The Green Falcons are holding one final training session before the Bolivia match on Monday evening, which is open to the media.