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Wednesday, September 30, 2009 WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia's drive to disrupt al Qaeda financing networks should be more strictly enforced while Yemen is emerging as a new base for terror groups plotting against U.S. and Saudi interests, a U.S. government watchdog report said on Tuesday, a British news agency reported.The Government Accounting Office (GAO) said Saudi Arabia has made progress in the fight against terrorism, arresting and prosecuting suspects and taking steps to curtail fund-raising by extremist groups inside the country.But it said loopholes remain, including the flow of donations from individuals and charities in Saudi Arabia to support extremist organizations outside the country as well as the nation's limited ability to crack down on cash couriers who physically transfer funds.The report stressed there was no indication the government of Saudi Arabia is providing funding for terrorism.But it said Washington should set certain specific performance targets on preve...

Monday, August 17, 2009 RIYADH: An 11-year-old Saudi girl has become one of the latest victims of swine flu after health officials announced a further three deaths in the kingdom.A total number of 14 people have died from the H1N1 virus in Saudi Arabia to date, the Ministry of Health confirmed.The child was diagnosed with swine flu and died on Friday. The same day a 28-year-old Saudi woman also died from the virus.

Friday, August 07, 2009 RIYADH: A Saudi disabled girl has died from swine flu, pushing the kingdom's flu death toll up to seven, the healthy ministry said on Thursday.The 12-year-old girl, who died on Wednesday two days after being admitted to hospital in al-Hasa, in Eastern Province, was suffering from an underdeveloped central nervous system, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency.On Tuesday, the ministry announced the death of a Sri Lankan man and a Saudi teenager from swine flu.The ministry said on Friday that total A(H1N1) flu infections in the kingdom were nearing 600.The government said it was doubling surveillance efforts as the peak season approaches for the umrah, or lesser pilgrimage, to the Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina in the west of the country.Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are expected to undertake the umrah during the fasting month of Ramadan which starts later in August, heightening fears of the virus ...