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RIYADH: Mobile medical nutrition clinics of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center provided treatment services for 37,883 patients in Yemen’s Hodeidah Governorate in one month.
The services included clinics for epidemiology, internal medicine, pediatrics, reproductive health, nutritional therapy, immunization, obstetrics, awareness and education, surgery and surgical dressing.
Clinics provided 14,100 prescriptions to patients. Through further services, 28 people were referred to the medical referral department, 5,950 people were referred to the laboratory department, 3,177 people benefited from the awareness and education department and 5,607 people benefited from a range of healthcare services.
KSrelief has implemented 708 projects in Yemen at a cost of more than $4 billion.
The blood transfusion department received 52 people in addition to admitting 8 patients.
Al-Jada Health Center outlets in Hajjah Governorate also provided treatment to 18,851 people in one month through the support of KSrelief.
The services come as part of the Kingdom’s efforts, represented by KSrelief, to improve the capacities of the health sector in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the center recently distributed almost 75 tons of food baskets to displaced and needy families in Hodeidah Governorate, benefiting 4,200 people.
The effort came as part of the Saudi food security project, which aims to distribute more than 192,000 food baskets to needy and affected families across 15 Yemeni governorates.
Yemen is among the top beneficiaries of KSrelief assistance. The center has implemented 708 projects in Yemen at a cost of more than $4 billion.
Its programs include food security, water sanitation and hygiene, health, education, emergency aid, nutrition, protection, early recovery, logistics and telecommunications.
Worldwide, KSrelief has implemented 2,025 projects worth almost $6 billion in 80 countries. The initiatives have been carried out in cooperation with 175 local, regional and international partners since the inception of the center in May 2015.
RIYADH: This era is the most promising for Saudi women to be the face of boxing.
The sport is becoming more well-known in the Kingdom, and more women are taking a leap of faith in pursuing their fighting passions. Saudi amateur boxer, Salma Fahad, is only 19, and she is ready to show the world the potential of Saudi women in boxing.
The amateur boxer is a part of the TKO Fighters team, and spends most of her day at the TKO Gym in Riyadh’s Al-Wadi, preparing for her face-off with professional fighters at the end of this month.
“The next match is the exhibition we’re having on the 28th and 29th of July,” Fahad said. “I’m really excited about this; we’ve been working hard and it’s gonna be a great event. It’s in Riyadh, in the Radisson Blu Hotel.”
Fahad has been boxing for eight months. She joined TKO fighters when she was 18, and has aspired to become a boxer since childhood.
“I used to watch boxing on TV, especially female boxing, and I felt so inspired,” she said.
After my first fight, even though I got beat up, I took the fight even though I’ve been boxing for a week. It was an eye-opener and brought this excitement inside me.
Salma Fahad
The Saudi fighter has competed in two official competitions — her first competition took place in Riyadh last year, and her second match was in Kuwait last March. She also had exhibition shows throughout the year and regularly sparred.
“Understanding what it’s like to be in amateur fights and actually getting that type of experience made me realize how much I love this sport and how much I wanna commit to it,” she said. “After my first fight, even though I got beat up, I took the fight even though I’ve been boxing for a week. It was an eye-opener and brought this excitement inside me.”
Fahad’s passion motivates her to train six days a week while trying to stay healthy to keep her weight down.
“You always have to wrap your hands to protect them, that’s the most important thing, so you don’t injure yourself,” Fahad said.
“Usually we begin with jump ropes and a warm-up to help with foot movement and use the speed bag to help with hand-eye coordination. We do some drills with each other, heavy bag moves, heavy bag training, working on the jab, the cross, the hooks — we put them together. We also work on head movements with each other.”
Fahad’s favorite boxing move is the jab. “It keeps the other person away and opens up all the other counters and moves,” she said.
Despite stereotypes about the sport’s “masculinity,” Fahad continues to encourage aspiring fighters.
“Being out there and showing you’re never gonna stop will break the stereotype,” she said. “With society, you can’t please everyone, especially being a female and doing boxing. But you know, I realized that the people who wanna be inspired will look at it in a positive way.”
“Go for it; you have nothing to lose — boxing has helped me find myself in many ways, and there’s no harm in starting. If you start and stay consistent, you can reach anywhere you wanna reach,” she said.
Fahad found her team and coach from an Instagram post. She said that she is surrounded by a supportive system from her family, friends, teammates and coach.
“My family are thankfully very supportive and have been with me every step of the way,” she said. “My coach and my team really helped me grow as a person. More than just boxing, inside and outside of boxing, they helped me feel more confident and more comfortable in myself and in the sport. They’re like my second family.”
Saudi-based American boxing trainer, Lee Starks, formed the TKO Fighters team. It is the first women’s boxing team in the Kingdom in 2021. He started with four ambitious young female boxers and led them to the historic debut championship in Riyadh.
“These young ladies and gentlemen came to me, and they were big fans of boxing, and they trained really hard, so after a while, we were like, so you know what? Let’s create a travel team,” Starks said. “There were only two or three tournaments a year, so we created a travel team that would travel outside of Saudi Arabia and participate.”
Boxing continues to grow as a sport for Saudi women, and there is a positive outlook for it in the future. Starks believes that the sport is going to be “really big in the next two or three years for women in Saudi.”
RIYADH: Saudi universities are now offering scores of flexible options for students interested in pursuing a master’s degree.
In 2019, the Saudi Council of Ministers approved a law to give independence to universities to develop their own academic  and administrative regulations in accordance with state-approved policies.
The new regulation also allowed universities to formulate a financial structure to generate revenues through carrying out scientific research and consultation services.
The Saudi Electronic University plans to launch eight master’s programs focusing on business administration, digitization, and health, with each program costing SR81,000 ($21,500)
To apply, candidates should have bachelor’s degree from a recognized university with a decent GPA and pass the university’s approved language assessment and other proficiency tests.
President of the Saudi Electronic University Prof. Lilac A. Al-Safadi told Arab News that the university “focuses on offering top-quality and specialized programs in cooperation with international universities, keeping pace with the job market, and the latest methods of e-learning.”
Reforms to the Kingdom’s education sector are benefiting students.
Al-Safadi said that the university also offers introductory programs that prepare students from non-specialty professions to enroll in certain master’s degrees, such as the preparatory program for business administration, the introductory program for cybersecurity, and the introductory program for data science. The students must pass the introductory programs before being enrolled for the degree.
Since a majority of the students pursuing master’s degrees are working, Al-Safadi said that “the university model is suitable for employees interested in continuing post graduate studies due to the implementation of blended learning, which allows students to attend electronically, in-person, and beyond official working hours.”
Dr. Abdullah bin Nidal Addas, vice rector for graduate studies and scientific research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, said that his institution has opened admissions to 31 master’s degree programs, many of which are in medicine, management and technology.
The master’s programs at the university are all priced differently, but the entry standards are similar to the Saudi Electronic University.
Addas said that the university continues its pursuit in providing high-quality graduate programs to fulfill the demands of society.
“Our graduates have the potential and competence to join the labor market as the output of the programs are linked to the needs of the labor market.”
Undergraduate students in a non-specialized field can also enroll in a variety of programs that do not require an extension of specialization at the faculties of engineering and computer science, engineering, science, business administration and education.
Dr. Abdulaziz S. Al-Ghamdi, vice dean for graduate studies and scientific research at the University of Hail, said that the university offers many programs and seeks to make graduates well qualified to enter the labor market by providing them with a set of knowledge, skills and the ability to perform in their fields of specialization.
The cost of a master’s degree in the Kingdom ranges from SR20,000 to SR100,000.
Undergraduate students in a non-specialized field can also enroll in some programs.
 
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with visiting Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Jeddah on Saturday and the two leaders reviewed the bilateral relations between their countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The crown prince and Tokayev also discussed enhancing cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan in various fields, and discussed a number of issues of common interest.
The Kazakh leader arrived in Jeddah early Saturday night, and was received at the King Abdulaziz International Airport by Makkah Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Environment and Water Minister Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, and a number of officials.
An official reception ceremony was then held for Tokarev at the Royal Court at Al-Salam Palace, followed by a session of talks.
The session was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, minister of energy; Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, minister of the National Guard; Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other officials.
From the Kazakh side were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tleuberdi; Timur Suleimenov, the first deputy chief of the Presidential Office; Bakhyt Sultanov, deputy prime minister and Minister of Commerce and Integration; Erzhan Kazykhan, deputy presidential chief of staff and special representative of the president for international cooperation ; Energy Minister Bulat Akshulakov; National Wealth Fund chairman Almasadam Satkaliev; Kazakh Ambassador Berek Arin and a number of officials.
Earlier, the Saudi Ministry of Investment said it was organizing  the Saudi-Kazakh Investment Forum on Sunday, with President Tokayev and Saudi investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih attending.
The dialogue will also discuss the most promising investment sectors between the two countries in petrochemicals, renewable energy, water desalination, mining, and food security, as well as major projects related to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, SPA also reported.
A number of investment agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two sides are also expected to be signed, the report added.
 
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia reported 338 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health. As a result, the total number of cases in the Kingdom over the course of the pandemic grew to 807,215.
The authorities also confirmed one new COVID-19-related death, raising the total number of fatalities to 9,238.
Of the new infections, 89 were recorded in Riyadh, 66 in Jeddah, 30 in Dammam and 20 in Makkah. Several other cities recorded fewer than 20 new cases each.
The ministry also announced that 576 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom over the course of the pandemic to 790,778.
It said that 7,199 COVID-19 cases were still active, adding that 12,258 PCR tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to almost 44 million.
The ministry said that of the current cases, 142 were in critical condition.
More than 68 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered since the Kingdom’s immunization campaign began, with over 25 million people fully vaccinated.
The ministry, which has 587 vaccine centers across the country, urged people who had not yet received a jab to register for a series of injections through the Sehhaty app.
MADINAH: Around 171,000 pilgrims have arrived in Madinah after completing their Hajj rituals in Makkah, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
Statistics from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah showed that the Madinah immigration center received more than 160,000 worshippers who arrived by bus, almost 8,000 made their way overland to the Land Pilgrim Reception Center and more than 3,000 traveled on the Haramain high-speed railway.
The ministry figures also revealed that thousands of pilgrims left Madinah for their respective countries, while around 74,000 remained in the city.
This year, the Kingdom allowed up to 1 million people to perform Hajj, welcoming foreign pilgrims for the first time in two years following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions that had forced the annual pilgrimage to be limited to residents of Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, 63 male and female volunteers from Madinah municipality continue to distribute umbrellas to visitors to the Prophet’s Mosque to protect them from the sun.
During their stay, many pilgrims visited the International Fair and Museum of the Prophet’s Biography and Islamic Civilization, located near the Prophet’s Mosque.
The museum, which is open 24 hours a day, offers an introduction to the Prophet Muhammad through displays and interactive screens in a variety of languages. One hall includes rare items and ancient artifacts from the Two Holy Mosques.

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