JEDDAH: The number of religious tourists is expected to rise from 17.5 million recorded last year to between 25 and 30 million in 2025, which would be a boost to the country’s economy, say economists. The contribution of religious tourism to the non-oil sector of the country’s Gross Domestic Prod

01 October, 2015 | Press Release| Bhatkallys News Bhatkal: Preparations for a grand BMJD get-together program to be organized on November 13, 2015 are on its way. The details of programs are as given below: 1. Drama Script Competition: Participants will have to write script that contains at

A visit visa can be converted into a permanent residency permit for a close family member of an expatriate worker under special conditions, a senior Passport Department official said during a phone-in service with Arab News readers on Wednesday. “Yes, this is possible,” said Col. Mohammed Al-Hussai

Saudi Arabia has called on Bashar al-Assad to give up power or be removed by force, raising the global stakes at a time when the Russians are shipping troops and military hardware to Syria in an effort to prop up its beleaguered leader. The threat was made on Tuesday by Saudi Arabia’s foreign min

Dubai: The health ministry in Saudi Arabia has dismissed a claim that the stampede in Mina on the first day of Eid Al Adha was caused by poisonous gas. “Such an allegation is totally groundless and lacks scientific credibility,” Faysal Al Zahrani, the spokesperson for the ministry, told Saudi dai

Clashes have erupted across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Along with other Knesset members from the Arab Joint List coalition, Jamal Zahalka was present at the al-Aqsa

28 September, 2015 | Correspondent | Bhatkallys News Bhatkal: BMJD is going to hold a grand get-together program for community members on 13th of November 2015, informed program convener Mohammed Yusuf Barmawar speaking to media persons in a press meet. The get-together function will be organi

RIYADH: “If my denunciation came from an imbecile, it is a testimony to my perfection,” is how the Twitter hashtag that defends the Kingdom and its services offered to the guests of God started. Three hours after the setting up of the hashtag, it collected more than 100,000 spontaneous tweets that

JEDDAH: As the probe into the stampede in Mina continues, an Iranian official has confirmed that a group of 300 Iranian pilgrims coming from the opposite direction caused the crush, according to media reports quoting Iranian sources. Quoting the Iranian official, Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publica

MAKKAH: Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih on Saturday said the number of pilgrims who died in Thursday’s stampede in Mina has risen to 769. Al-Falih said the number of injured has also jumped to 934, of which many are still confined in hospitals. “The latest statistics up to this hour reveal

MINA: Pilgrims streamed out of Mina after performing the ritual stoning of the devil for one last time on Saturday. There was no respite from the hot weather and the mercury hovered around 45 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. The pilgrims had poured into the Jamrat Complex since morning to per

Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood President, Zakat Foundation of India ZakatIndia.org On 11 and 24 September 2015 two incidents occurred in the Muslim sacred Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia causing death of 935 Haj pilgrims and grievous injury to 1,257. Including these, from 1975 till date, 14 mishaps have occ

MINA: The Kingdom will continue to play its role at the regional and international level for Arab and Muslim unity and will not allow anyone to drive a wedge between them or disrupt the harmony, said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Friday. He was speaking at an annual reception in

MINA: Pilgrims continued to perform the mandatory rituals of Haj on Friday despite a massive stampede a day earlier. Few pilgrims slept on Thursday night, thronging major roads and bridges as wailing ambulances continued to ferry the dead and injured to hospitals and morgues in and around Mina.

MINA: Tragedy struck Mina on Thursday morning when more than 310 pilgrims died in a stampede on the way to the Jamrat complex. Saudi Civil Defense forces said more than 450 were injured. The exact cause of the accident could not be determined easily. Many of the injured were in semiconscious state

MINA: Enemies of Islam are plotting to destroy the Islamic nation, warned Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh during his annual Arafat Day sermon on Wednesday. “Some of them are non-Muslims while others want to exploit Islam posing as Muslims, falsely raising the slogans of defending the Islami

MINA: Two million Muslims from around the world arrived in the Mina valley outside the holy city of Makkah. They came by bus, car or on foot to camp in the tent city for Yaum Al-Tarwiya on Tuesday’s first leg of the annual Haj pilgrimage. The weather conditions were particularly harsh in the day bu

MINA: Mina, which comes to life only once a year in Haj, is in fact a small city. As far as the eye can see, tents cover every open space. They are neatly arranged, row after row. In the sea of white, the historic Al-Khaif Mosque stands out with its brick-red minarets. The mosque is the center of