Middle East

Dubai, Jul 2: A United Arab Emirates (UAE) firm has launched an official website for a project to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the UAE coasts during the first quarter of 2020 "to leverage them as new sources of water in the region". The National Advisor Bureau Ltd put forward the UAE-IcebergProject to highlight the upcoming stages and benefits in environment and economy, Xinhua reported on

Amman, Jul 1: Talks between the Syrian opposition and Russian negotiators to reach a ceasefire in a rebel-held town in southwestern Syria have resumed after mediation by Jordan that has been seeking a ceasefire, an opposition spokesman said. A string of Syrian rebel-held towns and villages were forced to accept government rule on Saturday as insurgent lines collapsed in parts of the southwest

Jeddah, Jun 30: Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), said on Friday. The decision was made during meetings of the World Heritage Committee in Bahrain’s capital Manama. Al-Ahsa Oasis is the fifth Saudi site to join UNESCO’s World Heritage list

Jeddah, Jun 28: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait stepped in on Wednesday with pledges of financial support to avert a debt crisis in Bahrain. The three Gulf allies said they were in discussions on an aid package and other options “to enable the kingdom of Bahrain to support its economic reforms and fiscal stability.” The promise of support immediately eased fears that Manama may be unable to

Jeddah, Jun 27: Now that the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia has been lifted, there will be no turning back as the Kingdom moves forward to a more inclusive future, Princess Reema bint Bandar said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “It’s a relief and now, honestly, the onus is on us to take the next step forward in the growth of the inclusion of women in our community,” the

Le Castellet/ France, Jun 24: Renault stole a march on their Formula One rivals on Sunday when they gave a Saudi Arabian woman a chance to mark a special day by driving one of their cars ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix. On the same day that women celebrated being allowed to drive on the roads of Saudi Arabia, Aseel Al-Hamad, the first female member of her national motorsport federation, took

Riyadh, Jun 24: Every few metres someone -- a newlywed couple, a group of young girls with balloons -- stops Samar Almogren to cheer her on or flash her a thumbs-up. It's midnight in Riyadh, and she's making her way across the city she was born and raised in, finally in the driver's seat of her own car. Saudi Arabia's notorious ban on women driving ended today. After drinking tea and counting down

Jun 24: Women throughout Saudi Arabia waited for the stroke of midnight, turned the keys in the ignition, fired up their engines — and hit the road to a bright new future. It was the moment they had waited for since King Salman issued the royal decree on September 26, 2017, to lift the driving ban on women. Just after midnight on Saturday and in the first minutes of Sunday, Samah Algosaibi grabbed

Dubai, Jun 23: An Indian expatriate, who lost both his hands and legs to an infection caused after an accident during work in the UAE, has received 202,000 dirhams (USD 54,994) as compensation from his employer after the intervention of the Indian mission in Abu Dhabi, according to a media report. Gurbinder Singh, who hails from Punjab and worked as a crane operator for a private company in Abu

Jeddah, Jun 22: Since the foundation of Saudi Arabia, its wealth has not been limited to its citizens but has been spread throughout most of the world. It has provided humanitarian aid, charitable grants and soft loans to countries regardless of color or race. The Kingdom has always been one of world’s top providers of aid. To highlight the Kingdom’s effort internationally and to preserve its