Day: June 9, 2024

Makkah: The Ministry of Tourism has clarified that visit visas, regardless of their kind or designation, do not permit holders to engage in Hajj rituals in accordance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s regulations.

The ministry emphasized that the Kingdom’s regulations mandate a fine of SAR 10,000 for all citizens, residents, and visitors who violate Hajj regulations and instructions without a permit. This fine applies to individuals who do not have a Hajj permit and are arrested in Makkah, the central region, the holy sites, the Haramain train station in Rusaifa, security control centers, screening centers, and temporary security control centers. Additionally, expatriates will be deported to their home country and prohibited from entering the Kingdom within specified timeframes.

The ministry underscored the significance of adhering to Hajj regulations and instructions to ensure that pilgrims can perform their rituals in a secure, comfortable, and tranquil atmosphere. In the event of a repeat violation, the
security authorities will impose a doubled fine of SAR 10,000 on violators.

The Ministry of Tourism urged all individuals entering the Kingdom on a visit visa of any kind to review the instructions and adhere to the approved pledges before obtaining a visa. Additionally, they were urged to fully comply with all instructions issued in this regard to prevent any violations of regulations.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Saturday that his country will suspend coal exports to the Israeli entity until the “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip stops.

Petro said on X that coal exports to Israel would be suspended “until the genocide stops.” The decision came after Petro cut his country’s diplomatic relations with the Israeli entity in May, describing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as “genocidal”.

Colombia also stopped purchasing weapons made by Israel.

The Colombian government clarified that the ban will come into effect five days after publication in the country’s official gazette. It said that between January and August 2023, Colombia exported $375 million in goods to Israel, with a considerable concentration of that amount being coal.

The Colombian Ministry of Trade and Industry confirmed that coal exports will only resume if Israel complies with a recent order by the International Court of Justice.

Source: Qatar News Agency

An earthquake measuring 4.3 magnitude on the Richter scale struck Kahramanmaras, southern Turkiye on Sunday.

According to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the quake occurred in the Goksun district at a depth of 7 km.

So far, there have been no reports of material damage or human casualties resulting from the earthquake.

On Feb. 6, 2023, two massive earthquakes measuring 7.6 and 7.7 magnitude on the Richter scale rocked southern Turkiye and northern Syria, followed by thousands of violent aftershocks. The disaster, whose epicenter was in Kahramanmaras, claimed the lives of tens of thousands and left huge destruction in 11 Turkish provinces.

Source: Qatar News Agency

North Korea has launched hundreds of balloons carrying trash toward South Korea over the past two days, Seoul’s military said Sunday, amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s continued balloon campaign.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected some 330 waste-carrying balloons launched by the North since Saturday, with more than 80 of them landing inside South Korea and the rest apparently failing to reach the country, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The latest balloons appeared to be carrying trash, such as scraps of paper and plastic, the JCS said, noting that it was preparing for the possibility of the North launching additional balloons.

The latest balloon campaign came after South Korean civic groups’ launch of large balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda to the North between Friday and Saturday.

Since May 28, the North has staged the balloon campaign, which it described as a “tit-for-tat” response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting by activists in South Korea. It launched nearly 1,000 trash-
carrying balloons into the South late last month and early last week.

The Seoul metropolitan government said it has received reports of about 30 of these balloons as of 8 a.m. (local time). Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, also reported balloons in various locations, including at the Yellow Sea and other residential areas south of the border with North Korea.

So far, no casualties or property damage have been reported.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the British maritime security firm (Ambrey) said Sunday that an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged general cargo ship was struck by a missile 83 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Aden and caught fire, which was later contained.

“The ship was heading southwest along the Gulf of Aden at speed 8.2kts when the forward station was struck by a missile. A fire started but was neutralized,” Ambrey said in an advisory note.

“A second missile was sighted but did not hit the ship. Persons on board small boats in the vicinity opened fire on the ship during the incident,” Ambrey noted, adding that no injuries were reported.

Since November, the Houthis have been carrying out attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Several Palestinians were martyred and injured after the Israeli occupation warplanes targeted a house in Gaza City last night.

Medical sources reported that at least three Palestinians, including a child, were martyred, and several others were injured after the Israeli occupation bombed a residential apartment in Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Israeli occupation continues its brutal air, land and sea assault on the Gaza Strip for the 47th consecutive day, carrying out bloody massacres and geocide crimes against the Palestinian people, in addition to massive destruction to infrastructures and vital facilities amidst restriction on food, water, fuels and medical supplies, causing an unprecedent humanitarian catastrophe.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Gaza: Kamal Adwan Hospital Director said that about 50 children suffering from malnutrition were counted in just one week.

He added that the health system in Gaza is a target of the occupation, but we are trying to resume medical services at a minimum.

He said: We are trying to resume medical service at a minimum in light of the fuel shortage and the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip.

He pointed out: The specter of famine looms in Gaza, and we recorded signs of malnutrition in some children

Source: Maan News Agency

Doha: Weather inshore until 6:00 pm on Thursday will be hot to very hot daytime with haze at places and some clouds, the Department of Meteorology said in its daily weather report.

Offshore, it will be hazy to misty at places at times with scattered clouds, the report added.

Wind inshore will be northwesterly to northeasterly 08 – 18 KT, gusting to 25 KT at places daytime.

Offshore, it will be northeasterly to southeasterly 03 – 13 KT, shifting by evening to northwesterly to westerly.

Sea state inshore will be 01 – 02 ft. Offshore will be 01 – 03 ft.

Visibility inshore will be 05 – 09 km/ 3km at places at first, while offshore, it will be 04 – 08 km/ 02 km or less at places at times.

Area High Tide Low Tide Max Doha 06:44 – 20:01 03:40 – 12:12 42 Mesaieed 08:56 – 21:28 13:04 – 42 Wakrah 09:28 – 21:07 05:09 – 39 Al Khor 19:18 – 08:57 11:57 – 02:51 44 Ruwais 08:57 – 20:28 02:51 – 14:46 37 Dukhan 01:23 – 14:06 07:44 – 20:10 38 Abu Samra 01:08 – 13:25 07:16 – 18:56 41 Sunrise: 04:51 LT Sunset: 18:27 LT

So
urce: Qatar News Agency

Huawei has launched a new budget tablet, the MatePad SE 11, globally.

The device focuses on affordability while offering features like a large display, long battery life, and stylus support.

The MatePad SE 11 features a thin and lightweight metal body for a premium look.

The display is an 11-inch TFT LCD (IPS) panel with FHD+ resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels) and an 85% screen-to-body ratio. The screen has 400 nits peak brightness, 1400:1 contrast ratio, 16.7 million colors, 100% sRGB color gamut, and eBook mode for comfortable reading.

The tablet runs on HarmonyOS 2.0, offering features like multi-screen collaboration for seamless data transfer and screen sharing.

Other features include multi-window, a kid’s corner for safe and controlled use, and MeeTime calling for video communication. Storage options include 64GB or 128GB, with RAM options of 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB.

The MatePad SE 11 features a basic camera setup with an 8MP rear lens and a 5MP front-facing camera for video calls and selfies.

The tablet pa
cks a 7700mAh battery with support for 22.5W fast charging. It also supports the M-Pen Lite stylus for writing, drawing, and note-taking.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The messaging application Telegram returned to work after suffering a widespread outage, affecting Russia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US.

Problems were reported in the application, after which messages stopped being sent and chats were not updated, the Russia Today (RT) channel reported.

The malfunction monitoring service in Russia said that the services of the messaging application Telegram stopped in several Russian cities, and problems were observed in operating the application in the US and European countries.

No explanatory statements have been issued by Telegram yet regarding the causes of the malfunction.

Source: Qatar News Agency