Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in remarks published Wednesday that an al-Qaeda cell dismantled by security forces in south-eastern Yemen had plotted terrorist attacks in his country and its oil-rich neighbour Saudi Arabia.

Saleh was quoted by state newspapers as saying Yemeni police had seized documents containing "dangerous information unveiling a plan by the al-Qaeda organization to carry out terrorist acts in Yemen and Saudi Arabia."

He reportedly made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz late on Tuesday.

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority slammed Turkish soap operas, now hugely popular in the Middle East, as being "evil" and "un-Islamic", a local newspaper reported Monday

The country's head of the Higher Council of Religious Scholars, Sheikh Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh, told a seminar in Riyadh that it was not permitted to watch Turkish soap operas, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Warning Arab television channels that broadcast them, al-Sheikh said those channels would be perceived as waging a war on God and Islam if they helped to make those soaps more popular.

Those soap are "full of wickedness, evil and moral degradation," he said.

Riyadh  - Saudi Arabia vowed to end violations of human rights of foreign domestic workers, a labour official said in remarks published Wednesday, a day after a report revealed that thousands endure beatings and other abuses.

The Undersecretary at the Saudi Labour Ministry Ahmed al-Zamil was quoted by the Dubai-based Gulf News as saying the kingdom would enforce stringent measures to prevent mistreatment of domestic workers.

Employers abusing their maids would face imprisonment, he said.

A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia experienced beatings and starvation and rather than receive justice face instead accusations of theft, adultery and witchcraft.

Montreal - The annual scramble for world heritage status opens Wednesday in Quebec City, where 41 countries are seeking the high-profile designation from UNESCO for cultural or natural sites.

Riyadh  - Saudi Arabia is expecting the worst from the al- Qaeda terror network because the group is changing its style and techniques but the kingdom is uncovering more details about its sources o

Nicosia, June 18: The news that Saudi Arabia has told the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that it will increase its crude output to 9.7 million barrels a day (b/d) in an effort to bring down price