The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will begin in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the royal cabinet announced in a statement Monday, citing the kingdom's religious authorities.

The holy month during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious and charitable, begins with the sighting of the new moon, which varies from country to country.

Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its citizens on Monday after he was convicted of murdering a fellow Saudi in the southwestern Mecca region, the interior ministry said.

Saleh bin Ali al-Shemmarani was executed for stabbing to death Ali bin Saeed al-Shemmarani after a dispute between the two, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

A Saudi man and a child have died from the MERS virus, bringing the number of deaths from the respiratory infection in the kingdom to 38, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The 53-year-old man died from the SARS-like illness in Eastern Province, where the illness first broke out last year, the ministry's website reported.

A Saudi citizen who was "lured to restive areas" abroad, has surrendered and been repatriated, the interior ministry said on Sunday, without specifying where he had been.

The authorities in January 2011 published a list of 47 nationals accused of having links to the al-Qaida global extremist network.

Saudi banks expressed on Saturday readiness to cooperate with security agencies and hand over the bank accounts and transactions of the people affiliated with Hizbullah.

The Gulf Cooperation Council officials had met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Hizbullah over its support for the Syria regime.

Yemen has asked the International Organization for Migration to help some 200,000 Yemenis forced to leave Saudi Arabia in the past three months amid a crackdown on undocumented migrants, the IOM said Friday.

Yemen wants the IOM to help provide basic assistance such as shelter, access to water and hygiene kits to vulnerable returnees, the Geneva-based organisation said in a statement.

Two Yemenis condemned to death for forming an armed gang and for robbery were executed in the Saudi capital on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

In a statement cited by the official SPA news agency, the ministry said the two were the leaders of a gang whose other members have been sentenced to flogging and prison terms.

Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday sent a message of congratulations to Egypt's new caretaker president, saying his appointment comes at a "critical" time in the nation's history, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported.

"On behalf of the people of Saudi Arabia I congratulate you for taking over the leadership of Egypt at this critical time in its history," Abdullah said in the first message of congratulations by an Arab leader to Adly Mansour.

A Saudi man and a woman have died from the MERS virus, raising the death toll from the SARS-like infection in the kingdom to 36, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

Three others infected with the same virus, two in Eastern Province and one in Riyadh, have been treated, the ministry said on its website.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday extended by four more months an amnesty enabling illegal foreign workers to regularize their status or return home without prosecution.

King Abdullah has ordered "extending the time limit" of the Amnesty due to expire on Wednesday until November, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.