Faisal's international prize to be awarded today

Saudi Arabia is to hand over this Tuesday 3.75 million riyals (nearly one million dollars) in prizes to winners in the five branches of the King Faisal international award, KUNA reported.

Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz will attend the celebration on behalf of King Fahd and hand over the prizes to eight Arab and foreign personalities who submitted research in the fields of the service of Islam, Arab literature, Islamic studies, medicine and sciences.

This year's winners are a UAE national in the field of serving Islam, a Syrian in Islamic studies, while an Egyptian and a Moroccan share the Arab literature award.

An Australian and Briton share the medicine prize, while the science award was shared by a German and a Japanese.

The prize, named after King Faisal, the third Saudi monarch, was first awarded in 1979.

The philanthropic institution contributes to the development of cultural, health and educational services in poor countries. It also owns several investment projects, whose revenue goes to such activities and the award's cash prizes.

Since 1979, there were 124 recipients who belong to 33 nationalities.