Middle East

London, May 1: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed a bill into law on Tuesday declaring all US forces in the Middle East terrorists and calling the US government a sponsor of terrorism. The bill was passed by parliament last week in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision this month to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organisation. It was not clear what

Sharjah, Apr 29: In a step which has been largely lauded, the United Arab Emirates bend its rule to issue a birth certificate for a baby born to an Indian inter-faith couple here earlier this month. The middle-eastern nation's marriage rules for expatriates do not allow a Muslim woman to get married to a non-Muslim man. Even though Sharjah-based Indian expats Kiran Babu and Sanam Saboo Siddique

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority has announced Ramadan timings for Dubai schools. Talking to Khaleej Times, Mohammed Darwish, Chief Executive Officer of Permits and Compliance at KHDA said: "The school day during Ramadan will start between 8:00 to 8:30am and finish between 1:00 to 1:30pm, with shorter breaks as required. Schools should ensure that the total hours at school per day for

Abu Dhabi, Apr 28: Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance, has praised the enormous participation of all segments of the society, including institutions, individuals, students, families, local and federal entities Sheikh Nahyan made the remarks while addressing a ceremony organised by the Ministry on Friday to celebrate the International Workers' Day, under the slogan

Geneva, Apr 28: Qatar has decided to withdraw its measures against the UAE in a significant concession aimed at averting the consequences of the UAE's case in WTO against an illegal Qatari ban on UAE goods and services. During a session of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO, today, to examine the UAE's request to set up an arbitration committee to assess Qatari efforts to ban UAE

Riyadh, Apr 27: Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) is considering relaxing a 49 percent limit for foreign strategic investors in shares of listed companies due to increased demand, its chairman Mohammed Al Kuwaiz said on Thursday. Foreigners currently own 5.5 percent of Saudi equities but that could nearly double by the end of 2020, Al Kuwaiz said in an interview on the sidelines of a

Irbil, Apr 26: The children of Yazidi women raped by Daesh men will be welcomed into the minority faith, a community leader said Thursday, allowing women taken as slaves by the militant group to return to Iraq from Syria. Eido Baba Sheikh, son of the Yazidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh, said the children of the formerly enslaved women will be treated as members of the faith, resolving one of the

Riyadh, Apr 22: King Salman and other world leaders have condemned a series of blasts in Sri Lanka that killed more than 200 people on Sunday, including dozens of foreigners — with British, Dutch and American citizens believed to be among them. The Saudi king sent a cable of condolence to the president of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena following the terrorist attacks in the country. “We are aware

Apr 21: Four heavily armed attackers were killed in a failed terrorist attack on an interior ministry building in Zulfi, north of Riyadh, Al-Arabiya TV said. Videos circulating on social media show the dead armed with machine guns, bombs and Molotov cocktails. The suspects who were on board a car tried to crash through the main entrance of the General Directorate of Investigation’s Center in

Dubai, Apr 19: Dubai attracted more than 1,000 millionaires from outside the country, surpassing major cities like Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Sydney, according to the 'Global Wealth Migration Report' for 2019, developed recently by AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth. The report described Dubai as the most prominent financial centre in the Middle East, and one of the