Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet on December 8, 2014. Brendan Smialowski/AP Photo
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet on December 8, 2014. Brendan Smialowski/AP Photo
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet on December 8, 2014. Brendan Smialowski/AP Photo
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet on December 8, 2014. Brendan Smialowski/AP Photo

Saudi king reshuffles cabinet amid falling oil prices and ISIL threat


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RIYADH // Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah made the most sweeping changes to his cabinet in almost a decade on the throne, as the kingdom faces the challenges of plunging oil prices and ISIL militants.

Changes were made at the agriculture, higher education, information, telecommunications, Islamic affairs, health, social affairs and transportation ministries, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing royal decrees. Key posts, such as oil, finance, interior and defence, were left unchanged.

This is the most significant cabinet reshuffle since the Saudi monarch, born in 1924, took power in 2005.

Two years after ascending the throne, King Abdullah reappointed all serving cabinet members including oil minister Ali Al Naimi, who has held his post since 1995.

Since then, the monarch has only made minor ministerial changes.

The overhaul comes as Saudi rulers seek to manage the impact of crude prices that have dropped about 40 per cent since June. The decline accelerated after the November 27 decision when Opec, led by Saudi Arabia, ruled out cuts in production.

Saudi Arabia also faces a potential threat from ISIL militants after joining the US military campaign against the militant group in Iraq and Syria.

Saudi authorities said on Monday they arrested 135 terrorism suspects in nationwide raids, after attacks linked to supporters of the Al Qaeda breakaway group.

King Abdullah has been gradually introducing younger members of the royal family into key government positions. The process has gained speed since 2011 when revolts spread through the Arab world and Saudi Arabia expanded its welfare programmess to ward off unrest.

“The king and his advisers are looking to the future transitions, but also toward the present problems,” said Paul Sullivan, a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University in Washington. “Many of these cabinet shifts have to do with cultural, social and economic issues that are a major cause of some building tensions in the kingdom.”

Among the cabinet members replaced in the overhaul was Islamic affairs minister Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdulaziz Al Ashaikh, who ran the country’s mosques and religious schools since 1999. Another was Khalid Al Angary, who had held the post of minister for higher education since 1991, according to the website of the Saudi embassy in Washington DC.

* Bloomberg News

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

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The distance learning plan

Spring break will be from March 8 - 19

Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm

Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19

Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning

Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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When: October 17 until November 10

Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration

Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center

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Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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Rating: 1/5