Middle East

Jeddah/Dubai, Dec 29: The recent Saudi Youth Development Survey revealed that 67.02 percent of the Saudi population is between the age of 0 and 34. The survey, which was performed during the second quarter of 2019 and was published by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), aimed to provide many important indicators about the life of young people. This included social, demographic and

Makkah, Dec 27: Hajj and Umrah Minister Mohammed Saleh bin Taher Benten received at his office in Makkah the Somali Minister of Endowment and Religious Affairs Nur Mohamed Hassan to discuss early preparations for this year’s Hajj season. Later on, Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat received at his office in Makkah Secretary-General of the Syrian National Coalition

Dubai, Dec 25: Developers of 'ToTok', a popular messaging application, have rebuffed accusations of their service being a spyware and misusing users' information, saying that the company has made security and privacy as its priority "since day one". The clarification came after ToTok was taken off from Apple and Google App stores last week over allegations that the app was being used as a spy tool

Dubai, Dec 24: Get over Israeli spyware Pegasus. A new app called ToTok (do not confuse it with TikTok) which is very popular in the UAE and is billed as a secure way to chat by video or text message with friends and family is allegedly being used by the UAE government as a spying tool for mass surveillance. According to a New York Times report, ToTok "is used by the government of the United Arab

Saudi Arabia, Dec 23:Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Monday five people had been sentenced to death and three more to jail terms totalling 24 years in the case of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October last year. He said Saud al-Qahtani, a former high-profile Saudi royal adviser, was investigated but not charged and was released. Khashoggi was a US resident

Kuwait formed a new government on Tuesday, a month after the previous one resigned due to a row between ruling family members and parliament, state news agency KUNA reported. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid al-Sabah is announced to be the Prime Minister. A former Foreign Minister, he was appointed by Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah days after the government resigned. The resignation came after

Riyadh, Dec 10: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia opened a Gulf Arab summit on Tuesday, December 10, by calling for regional unity to confront Iran and secure energy supplies and maritime channels. "Our region today is passing through circumstances and challenges that require concerted efforts to confront them as the Iranian regime continues

Riyadh, Dec 9: Restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia are no longer required to have gender-segregated entrances, officials said, in a further easing of social restrictions in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom. Eateries have long required one entrance for single men and another for women and families, in a country where the once-powerful religious police zealously enforced sex segregation in

Sharjah, Dec 9: A two-year-old Arab boy fell to death from the 8th floor of his family apartment in a building in Sharjah's Al Majaz 2 area. After the police were notified about the tragedy, patrols and paramedics rushed to the site and found the toddler dead. The body was shifted to a forensic laboratory. A case has been registered at Al Buhaira Police Station. Further details are awaited.

Dubai, Dec 7: Rainfall has been forecast in some parts of the UAE, the NCM said in its daily weather bulletin. According to the Met's latest update, it will be partly cloudy in UAE today with some convective clouds over the islands, northern and eastern parts of the country. It will also be windy, causing blowing dust and sad with poor visibility. The seas with be rough in the Arabian Gulf and