Saudi religious police warn against New Year's celebrations

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia's religious police have warned against celebrating New Year's Eve in the kingdom, the local Okaz daily said on Sunday.

The Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, known unofficially as Mutawaa, based its warning on a religious edict from the top committee of Saudi clerics banning such celebrations, the newspaper said.

Saudi Arabia follows the Muslim lunar calendar, unlike all other Gulf states that use the Gregorian calendar.

* Agence France-Presse