Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends the International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh in 2018. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends the International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh in 2018. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends the International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh in 2018. Reuters
Saudi Arabia's King Salman attends the International Humanitarian Forum in Riyadh in 2018. Reuters

Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum: coronavirus, refugees and locusts on the agenda


Taylor Heyman
  • English
  • Arabic

Refugee crises, coronavirus and locust plagues are all on the agenda for heads of the world’s biggest NGOs meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

The Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum will bring together humanitarian organisations and UN bodies to discuss pressing issues on the world aid agenda and ways of improving aid operations.

"The forum will review humanitarian initiatives to reflect the latest developments on the ground in order to improve the level of provided services and assistance to natural-disaster and conflict victims," said Dr Aqeel Al Ghamdi, chairman of the forum’s supervisory board.

Leaders of the World Food Programme, World Health Organisation and the International Organisation for Migration are expected to attend, along with 1300 delegates from governments, private sector and NGOs, despite Saudi Arabia halting tourist and religious visits to the kingdom over coronavirus fears.

Tourists from China, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Kazakhstan were banned from travel to the kingdom, and the holy site of Makkah closed off on Thursday.

Cases of the disease, which originated in Wuhan, China, surpassed 85,000 worldwide over the weekend, World Health Organisation figures show.

The rapid spread of coronavirus will be on the agenda at the two-day forum, the second iteration of the meeting, in a session on communicable diseases.

The forum, which will discuss mass migration, comes as Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his country would no longer prevent refugees from trying to reach Europe on Saturday. Just hours later, hundreds of desperate people, including children, arrived at border crossings with Greece.

A military escalation in north-west Syria’s Idlib province has forced almost a million Syrian civilians to flee fighting between advancing Syrian government forces backed by Russia and rebel fighters supported by Turkey.

“We can’t handle a new wave of migration,” Mr Erdogan said Saturday, adding his country would not stand in the way of refugees and migrants already in the country who hope to head to Europe.

“We will not close the gates to refugees,” he said. “The European Union has to keep its promises. We are not obliged to look after and feed so many refugees.”

Another issue likely to be discussed is the locust swarms plaguing the Gulf and North Africa. Host Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Yemen have seen millions of locusts sweeping through over the last few weeks and countries in the Horn of Africa are suffering the largest outbreak in decades.

Kenya is seeing its largest outbreak in 70 years, and Somalia and Ethiopia say they have not faced swarms that size in 25 years.

The forum is hosted by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre alongside the UN.

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UPI facts

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Sole survivors
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  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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The biog

Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar

Nationality: Emirati

Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology

Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels

Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs

Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends

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Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

MATCH INFO

Mumbai Indians 186-6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 183-5 (20 ovs)

Mumbai Indians won by three runs

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Company name: Yeepeey

Started: Soft launch in November, 2020

Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani

Based: Dubai

Industry: E-grocery

Initial investment: $150,000

Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year

Opening day UAE Premiership fixtures, Friday, September 22:

  • Dubai Sports City Eagles v Dubai Exiles
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hall of shame

SUNDERLAND 2002-03

No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.

SUNDERLAND 2005-06

Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.

HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19

Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.

ASTON VILLA 2015-16

Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.

FULHAM 2018-19

Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.

LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.

BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66