King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has directed all agencies to spare no effort in providing quality services for Umrah pilgrims and visitors to the two Holy Mosques. He was speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting where ministers reviewed services in Makkah and Madina. The King also ordered $60 million in aid to help the Somali people with food and medicine. Cabinet also condemned the terror attacks in Norway. The ministers welcomed the start of the International Islamic Conference organized by the Muslim World League. They underlined the importance of the King's speech, which called for scholars to work out a well-defined Islamic program to tackle the Ummah's problems and ensure moderation prevails in the Muslim World. Chairing the weekly Cabinet session, King Abdullah briefed the Council of Ministers on his talks with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, stressing the continuing deep-rooted relations between the two countries. In a statement following the session, Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said Cabinet members reviewed reports on the development of events in a number of Arab countries and in the international arena and pointed out the Kingdom was worried about the continued loss of life as a result of the political upheavals. He said the Kingdom has appealed to all parties to seek peaceful solutions. It also called on all warring Somali factions to denounce their differences and stop fighting immediately to pave the way for humanitarian aid and relief to rescue the Somali people. The members lauded the King's order for allocating $50 million for purchasing food for the Somali refugees to be delivered by the International Food Program in addition to $10 million to secure medicines and vaccines in coordination with the Saudi Minister of Health and World Health Organization The King also issued directives to provide shipments of dates for the Somali refugees in collaboration with the ministries of Finance and Agriculture. The Cabinet condemned the seizure of the French ship Dignity by the Israeli authorities which was carrying relief materials to the Palestinians. It also strongly denounced the terrorist acts experienced by the Norwegian people which resulted in several deaths and injuries. The Cabinet also praised the King's generous gesture of increasing the fodder subsidy by 50 percent.
