Saudi Royal Decree Forms 3 New Ministries, Merges 2 Others

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
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Saudi Royal Decree Forms 3 New Ministries, Merges 2 Others

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques king Salman bin Abdulaziz issued on Tuesday a series of Royal Decrees that formed three new ministries and merged two others.

King Salman relieved Media Minister Turki al-Shabanah, Civil Service Minister Sulaiman bin Abdullah al-Hamdan and governor of the General Investment Authority Ibrahim bin Abdulrahman al-Omar of their posts.

He ordered that Dr. Majed bin Abdullah al-Qasabi will continue to serve as Trade Minister and will also become Minister of Media.

Majed bin Abdullah bin Hamad al-Haqil will continue to serve as Minister of Housing and also serve as Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

King Salman ordered that the Civil Service Ministry be merged with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. It will now be known as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

The General Investment Authority will be transformed into a ministry, called the Ministry of Investment, with Khalid al-Falih as its minister.

King Salman ordered that the General Sport Authority would be transformed into the Sports Ministry. Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal was appointed as Sports Minister.

In another decree, King Salman ordered that the Commission for Tourism and National Heritage would be transformed into the tourism ministry, with Ahmed al-Khatib as its minister.



Small Earthquake Strikes Eastern Saudi Arabia

The earthquake hit eastern Saudi Arabia, 85 kms east of the city of al-Jubail. (SPA)
The earthquake hit eastern Saudi Arabia, 85 kms east of the city of al-Jubail. (SPA)
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Small Earthquake Strikes Eastern Saudi Arabia

The earthquake hit eastern Saudi Arabia, 85 kms east of the city of al-Jubail. (SPA)
The earthquake hit eastern Saudi Arabia, 85 kms east of the city of al-Jubail. (SPA)

A 3.35 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Saudi Arabia, 85 kms east of the city of al-Jubail, said the Saudi Geological Survey on Tuesday.

In remarks to local television, Tariq Mansoob, head of the detection center at the survey, said six earthquakes were detected in the Kingdom from March and April.

They were all between the 3.5 and 4.5 range, he added.

The latest quake, which struck at 5:12 pm on Tuesday, has no impact on the Kingdom, he stated.

Activity along the Arabian and Eurasian plates along the Zagros and Makran mountains in Iran and Pakistan led to the quakes, he explained.

The pressure created by this activity resulted in the tremors, he went on to say.

Small quakes are a “good sign,” Mansoob said, because if the pressure continues to build without release, it would have eventually erupt in a major potentially devastating quake.

He reassured the public that the small tremors were not a cause for concern and that the larger ones had taken place closer to Iranian shores.