RIYADH: The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has taken the first step to transform into a stronger union with the launch of the first meeting of a high-powered panel studying the new initiative, said the council’s secretary-general in Riyadh on Tuesday.

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JEDDAH: The basic salaries of Saudi male and female schoolteachers working in private schools will soon be increased to SR5,600, local Arabic daily Al-Madinah reported Tuesday, quoting the official spokesman of the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF).

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RIYADH: The Shoura Council approved a draft proposal on Monday to set up the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna.

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RIYADH: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is holding a round-table discussion in Riyadh on Tuesday. The discussion will focus on a comparative study on the right of asylum as seen by Islamic teachings and international refugee law by professor Ahmad Abou El Wafa, chief of the Department of Public International Law in Cairo University.

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Sometimes the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) listed a number of things that have the same verdict in Islam, providing a short statement of requirements or prohibitions. He always preferred a direct and short statement so that it could be quickly learnt and easily reported and transmitted. Given his superior ability of expressing broad meanings in a concise form, he was able to give us an explanation of Islamic teachings that remain easy to learn and memorize. An example is provided in the following Hadith which Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah attributes to the Prophet: “God has forbidden you to be undutiful to your mothers, bury your daughters alive, deny others’ rights and demand what is undue. He does not like you to engage in idle talk, ask too many questions and waste money.” (Related by Al-Bukhari).

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JEDDAH: King Abdullah Charitable Housing Foundation has constructed 6,000 housing units in Jazan to accommodate displaced people, Ahmed Al-Arjani, secretary-general of the organization, announced Sunday.

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RIYADH: Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed will inaugurate the First International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh on Monday.

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RIYADH: The National Water Company (NWC) was able to save 67 million cubic meters of water worth more than SR400 million in 2011 by preventing leakages from drinking water pipelines.

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MAKKAH: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) confirmed a fire that broke out at a women’s prison in Makkah last week was limited and caused no human or material damage, a local daily reported.

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LONG trekking pants, check…trekking poles, check…sleeping bag, check!

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JEDDAH: A cardiovascular diseases prevention program launched in Jeddah has two strategies, said the vice president of the Saudi Epidemiology Association at a preventative medicine and public health care conference in the coastal city on Tuesday.

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JEDDAH: British Deputy Consul General Michael Cockle, who is the head of the trade and investments section at the British Consulate in Jeddah, has asked the Kingdom to review the procedures for granting entry visas to British businessmen and investors.

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He was a very pious and learned man. He was not a companion of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), but a Taabeii (successor of the Sahaba). He met Abdullah bin Abbas, Imam Maalik and Hasan Basri. His family was from Sijistan (or Kabul) who later embraced Islam. He lived a very austere life and earned his livelihood by writing the Holy Qur’an. He learned Hadith from leading scholar and narrated few Hadith from Hasan Al Basri. He died in 127 A.H. He was a beacon of light for new Muslims.

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MADINAH: The national Olympiad for creativity, which concluded in Madinah on Thursday, has been successful in promoting cultural and scientific activities, said Hussein bin Hamza Owaida, a senior official at the Education Department.

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RIYADH: A special court in Riyadh resumed this week the trial of 49 suspects accused of being involved in various terror acts, including inciting sedition and encouraging youths to participate in “holy war” abroad.

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RIYADH: A medical symposium on breast cancer ended on Wednesday with a warning note for women to take check thoroughly for symptoms of the disease when they reach the age of 40 years.

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JEDDAH: A conference of experts in Makkah has called for the formation of a committee of astronomers and Islamic scholars that would try to unify the beginning of lunar months in Muslim countries.

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JEDDAH: A public prosecutor at a special court trying a number of men for their alleged involvement in the bombing of three residential complexes in Riyadh said on Tuesday the defendants who claimed their recorded confession were forced from them should provide evidence backing their claims.

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RIYADH: A private hospital in Dammam was closed today for a period of 15 days due to professional mistakes, the Ministry of Health announced here on Monday.

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