Middle East

Riyadh, Apr 21: About 250 Saudi women will work in new manufacturing jobs as part of a major SR500 million-expansion program under a Saudi-Japanese joint venture. Japanese Ambassador Norihiro Okuda, Mahdy Katbe, of Unicharm Gulf Hygienic Industries Limited, and Takahisa Takahara, president and CEO of Unicharm launched the project. Katbe told Arab News that his company currently employs 73 local

Riyadh, Apr 20: The US wants to see a strong Saudi Arabia, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said during talks with King Salman on Wednesday, aimed at reinvigorating the Riyadh-Washington alliance. Mattis said Iran was playing a destabilizing role in the region but its influence would be overcome to try to reach a solution to the conflict in Yemen through UN-brokered negotiations. “Everywhere you look

Riyadh, Apr 19: Ahmed Al-Humaidan, deputy minister of labor and social development, said the labor market is going through a pivotal stage and has structural problems that have accumulated over the past 40 years. Saudi Arabia has a large number of students graduating from university and they must have the stamina to go through the line of professional work, he said, according to Okaz newspaper

Jeddah, Apr 18: King Salman on Monday made a phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, congratulating him and the people of Turkey on the successful conduct of a referendum on amendments to the Turkish constitution. The king expressed hope that the new amendment would bring Turkey more stability and boost its development. He reiterated the Kingdom’s keenness for more cooperation with

Beirut, Apr 16: At least 68 children were among those killed in the car bomb attack on a convoy carrying evacuees from besieged government-held towns in Syria, a monitor said today. Yestersay's attack in Rashidin west of Aleppo killed at least 126 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, updating a previous toll of 112 dead. At least 109 of those killed were evacuees from the towns of

Beirut, Apr 16: The death toll in a suicide car bomb attack on buses carrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged government-held towns has risen to at least 112, a monitoring group said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 98 evacuees from the northern towns of Fuaa and Kafraya were killed when an explosives-laden vehicle hit their buses at a transit point west of Aleppo on

Paris, Apr 15: A Saudi official told a seminar in Paris that the Kingdom is among the key global supporters of humanitarian work, and does not differentiate between different races or religions in its mission to alleviate suffering. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, adviser at the Royal Court and general supervisor of the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief), was speaking at a

Riyadh, Apr 14: They have long legs, big beguiling eyes, and enjoy long walks — although some are said to be rather bad tempered. We are talking about camels, of course — specifically the winners of a four-legged beauty contest held Thursday at the close of a traditional Saudi festival. Big beasts deserve big prizes — and the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, as it is formally known, did not

Cairo, Apr 13: Egypt’s president has picked three former leaders at state news organizations during the era of deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak to lead new media watchdog agencies, part of measures to tighten his control over the country following a pair of horrific Daesh church bombings last weekend. The move comes just days after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi publicly criticized media coverage of

Jeddah, Apr 12: All schools in the Makkah region will remain closed on Wednesday due to bad weather, according to the Saudi Press Agency. An unexpected sandstorm struck the Kingdom on Tuesday, severely limiting visibility, disrupting traffic and making sure that no one puts out their laundry to dry. Jeddah, Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah and the Qassim and Eastern provinces were the hardest hit with wind