Middle East and Africa

News : Middle East and Africa

Two months after he returned from a medical trip to Saudi Arabia, President Umaru Yar'adua departed the country again yesterday for Saudi Arabia, apparently in a hurry. (AllAfrica)

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday flewout of the country again to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for another round of medical check- up. (AllAfrica)

A total of 128 Ugandans have left to work as guards and truck drivers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. (AllAfrica)

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will leave Abuja today for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (AllAfrica)

The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday, at 14:15 pm arrived in The Gambia for a day?s working visit. (AllAfrica)

We wish to welcome the Iranian president, Mahmuud Ahmedinijad to The Gambia, who is on one day working visit to the country, as part of his five-day working trip to Latin America and Africa. During the course of the trip, the Iranian president is scheduled to visit his counterparts and other officials in The Gambia, Senegal, Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia; and is accompanied by an economic and trade delegation comprising traders and managers from both the Iranian government and its private sector. (AllAfrica)

Hundreds of pilgrims for this year's Hajj in Saudi Arabia were at the weekend stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, as their agents could not be found. (AllAfrica)

Over 200 medical doctors, nurses and pharmacists have been deployed to Saudi Arabia by the Federal Government to cater for the immediate health needs of the intending Pilgrims to the holy land. (AllAfrica)

Agunwa Anakwe, a lawyer and Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic, rarely speaks to the media. He is by his own admission taciturn and almost shy, preferring to work in the field and behind the scenes. Often described as ruthlessly efficient and always strategic in planning, he was the Director General of the Chris Ngige Campaign Organisation in 2007. (AllAfrica)

Thousands of Ugandans and Kenyans are working in Iraq and Afghanistan as contractors for US-based security companies. (AllAfrica)

Last October, seven prisoners in Iran escaped a near-certain death sentence. (AllAfrica)

Emirates Group Security recently hosted 11 aviation professionals from the Nigerian presidential fleet for a three-day Aviation Security Training (AVSEC) course in Dubai. (AllAfrica)

UN Envoy, Ellen Margrethe Løj has commended Jordanian police peacekeepers for their role in consolidating peace throughout Liberia. In remarks made during a medal award ceremony early this week, Ms. Løj acknowledged their support to the Liberia National Police and noted that their "efforts to curb crime and public disorder, play an important part in maintaining peace and stability." (AllAfrica)

The Head of the Federal Government medical team to the 2009 Hajj, Dr Ibrahim Kana, has confirmed that 11 Nigerian pilgrims have died in Saudi Arabia. (AllAfrica)

As part of developing the Tunisian-Jordanian cooperation, a Tunisian businessmen mission led by Mr. Mounir Mouakhar, President of the Tunisian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) is visiting Amman, Jordan from November 16 to 18, 2009. (AllAfrica)

The top United Nations-African Union official for Darfur has highlighted the role of civil society groups in the search for a solution to the strife that has plagued the Sudanese region, encouraging their full participation in the peace talks that resumed in Doha today. (AllAfrica)

United Nations-backed mediation talks aimed at bringing peace to the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur will resume tomorrow in Doha, Qatar, the world body announced today. (AllAfrica)

On Morocco's celebration of Independence Day, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sent a message to congratulate king Mohamed VI, hailing the comprehensive development the brotherly state of Morocco is living through under the wise leadership of the King. (AllAfrica)

On the National Day of the Sultanate of Oman, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sent a message to congratulate Sultan Qabus Ben Said. (AllAfrica)

A Lagos pilgrim,currently in Mecca,Saudi Arabia, for this year's Hajj has been arrested by the Saudi police for being in possession of fake $22, 000 (N3.3 million) from which he had been spending. (AllAfrica)

The first batch of 400 out of the 20,000 Christian pilgrims have arrived in Israel for this year's Christian pilgrimage. (AllAfrica)

The federal government has set up a special monitoring on the 2009 Hajj Muslim airlift to Saudi Arabia to stave off any hitch in the process. (AllAfrica)

"On 20 August 2009, off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the Italian coastguard rescued five of the remaining 78 Eritrean passengers aboard a rickety boat set sail from the Libyan capital, Tripoli. While a number of European sailing vessels had passed their boat in the three weeks it had spent at sea, only one stopped to give them life jackets, bread and water. But it soon went on its way ... Seventy-three of the Eritrean refugees died from thirst, hunger and heat. ... The five survivors now face a fine of 5,000 to 10,000 Euros for illegal immigration under an Italian law that took effect in early August." - Yohannes Woldemariam (AllAfrica)

The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) says the upgrading of its nationwide wireless backbone and the backhaul network of its mobile subsidiary be Mobile by Ceragon Network is ongoing after the Israeli company was awarded a $1.5 million (P9.96 million) contract earlier this year. (AllAfrica)

UGANDA plans to export 50,000 security guards to the United Arab Emirates in the coming year, the labour minister has said. (AllAfrica)

His Excellency Gideon Behar, the ambassador extra-ordinary plenipotentiary of the Republic of Israel based in Dakar (Senegal) who is also overseeing The Gambia, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, has expressed optimism that the bilateral relationship between The Gambia and Israel will yield meaningful gains as the relationship continues. (AllAfrica)

Why should anyone care about Fatah's fate? The 50-year-old movement, once the beating heart of Palestinian nationalism, is past its prime, its capacity to mobilise withered. Racked by internal divisions, it lost the latest and only truly competitive election in Palestinian Authority (PA) history. (AllAfrica)

Thousands of Palestinians turned out Wednesday for a rally here on the fifth anniversary of the death of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and to show support for his successor, President Mahmoud Abbas, who recently expressed an intention to retire. (AllAfrica)

It's already well over a decade-and-a-half since two great men on opposite sides of the conflict in the troubled Middle East region signed an historic agreement in the Norwegian capital Oslo, with one side, namely the Israelis, offering up chunks of occupied land in exchange for peace from the other side, namely the Palestinians and Arabs. (AllAfrica)

His Excellency Gideon Behar, the ambassador extra-ordinary plenipotentiary of the Republic of Israel based in Dakar (Senegal) who is also overseeing The Gambia, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, has expressed optimism that the bilateral relationship between The Gambia and Israel will yield meaningful gains as the relationship continues. (AllAfrica)

Tunisia took part in the 25th session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the COMCEC Economic Summit, held from November 5 to 9, 2009, in Istanbul, Turkey. (AllAfrica)