Middle East

Jerusalem, Sept 12: Saudi Arabia led a chorus of international condemnation on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to annex the Jordan Valley. The Kingdom said there was “no peace without the return of the occupied Palestinian territories,” and called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers. “The Arab and Islamic worlds’ preoccupation with many local and

Baghdad, Sept 11: A walkway collapsed and set off a stampede in the holy city of Karbala on Tuesday as thousands of Shiite Muslims marked one of the most solemn holy days of the year. At least 31 people were killed and about 100 were injured, officials said. It was the deadliest stampede in recent history during Ashoura commemorations, when hundreds of thousands of people converge on the city

Dubai, Sept 9: Thushar Vellapally, President of a coalition partner of the BJP-led NDA in Kerala, who was arrested last month in the UAE in connection with a Rs 19 crore cheque default case, has been cleared of all charges in the case by a UAE court, the leader himself said here on Sunday. Vellapally, who unsuccessfully contested as the NDA candidate against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the

Riyadh, Sep 8: Saudi Arabia's King Salman has appointed his son Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as the new energy minister of the country, the state media said on Sunday. Citing a royal decree, Saudi Press Agency reported that the new minister will replace Khalid al-Falih. This will be the first time when a member of the ruling Al Saud family will be holding the post of the energy minister of the

Gaza, Sept 7: Israeli forces attacked Hamas positions in Gaza after rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state, the military said early Saturday. The exchange came hours after two Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli fire during clashes on the Gaza border. Late Friday, "five projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel," the army said. The projectiles

Dubai, Sept 6: A Pakistani man has been charged by a Dubai court for molesting a minor Indian girl inside the elevator of a residential building, a media report said. According to the prosecutors on Thursday, the 35-year-old man, who was a delivery worker by profession, inappropriately touched the 12-year-old Indian girl inside the residential building's lift on June 16 while on his way to drop a

Abu Dhabi, Sept 5: The United Arab Emirates is strongly standing with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to confront challenges, affirmed His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. ''UAE and Saudi Arabia are standing as partners in one trench to face besetting challenges. Our shared goals are security of the UAE and

Geneva, Beirut, Sept 5: The UN human rights chief says her office has tallied more than 1,000 civilian deaths in Syria over the last four months, the majority of them due to airstrikes and ground attacks by President Bashar Assad’s forces and their allies. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, says 1,089 civilians were killed in the war-battered country between April 29 and

Riyadh, Sep 1: The Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC) will undergo serious modernization and be granted more powers, a knowledgeable government source within the commission has told Arab News. “The aim is to empower HRC so that the human rights file and practices are in line with all the progress and reform in the Kingdom under Vision 2030, and also in line with best possible practices,” the

Manama, Aug 25: In a humanitarian gesture, the Bahrain Government has pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences in the country. The decision was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to the Gulf country as part of his thee-nation tour. Modi has expressed his gratitude to the Bahraini leadership for the Royal pardon, PMO India tweeted on Sunday. "In a kind and humanitarian