Middle East

Jeddah, Feb 10: United State’s top diplomat acknowledged on Thursday the role of Saudi Arabia’s leadership in helping to stabilize the region, according to the Saudi Press Agency. In a phone conversation with King Salman, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hailed the leadership role played by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in achieving stability and peace in the region and the world, SPA reported

Dubai, Feb 9: A drop in oil prices pulled stocks in Saudi Arabia down on Wednesday. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dropped 1 percent. All 14 listed petrochemical producers declined with Nama Chemicals, the worst performer in that sector, retreating 5.3 percent and Saudi Kayan losing 2.4 percent. Banking shares were also weak with heavyweight Samba Financial Group dropping 3.2 percent. Qatar’s

Riyadh, Feb 8: The US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia announced that they have resumed processing existing visa applications and schedule appointments for new ones after a US federal court order effectively suspending the travel ban for citizens of Muslim-majority countries imposed by President Trump. “The US Department of State had, under the executive order, provisionally revoked all valid

The new Board of Governors (BoG) of the Gulf Medical University (GMU), Ajman, headed by the Founder, President of the BoG Mr. Thumbay Moideen, met on Saturday, February 4, 2017, to deliberate on the future strategic plans while reminiscing the accomplishments of the year gone by. Also attending the meeting were Prof. Hossam Hamdy - Chancellor of GMU and Prof. Gita Ashok Raj – Provost of GMU. Other

Jeddah, Feb 6: A Saudi warship targeted last month by Houthi suicide attackers returned to base on Sunday after completing its mission. The Al-Madinah warship of the Royal Saudi Navy was in late January hit by a terrorist boat attack off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, killing two crew members. It returned early Sunday to the King Faisal Naval Base in Jeddah, after completing its duties according to

Dubai, Feb 5: US Defense Secretary James Mattis has called Iran the world’s “biggest state sponsor of terrorism,” amid rising tensions between the two nations. His comments come a day after the US imposed new sanctions against Iran in response to a ballistic missile test. But Mattis said he did not see any need to boost US troop numbers in the Middle East to deal with Iran, reported BBC. A

Riyadh, Feb 4: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Ministry of Education have agreed to strengthen cooperation in achieving Saudi Vision 2030. The agreement was reached during a meeting between IDB President Dr. Bandar Hajjar and Education Minister Dr. Ahmed Al-Issa in Riyadh, the IDB said on its website. The two sides agreed to build up their partnership to achieve education-related

Thumbay Hospital, the leading network of academic hospitals operated by the healthcare division of Thumbay Group UAE, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global medical technologies provider Hill-Rom, for the purchase of 500 beds to support Thumbay Group’s upcoming healthcare projects in the Middle East and India, over the next 4 years. The MoU was signed at the ‘Arab Health 2017’

Jeddah, Feb 3: More than 1.4 million people have registered for Saudi Arabia’s Citizens Account Program in the first two days since the application portal opened. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s communication center started receiving beneficiaries’ inquiries on Feb. 1, with more than 365 supervisors and communication officers working round the clock. The center received 25,000 calls

Abu Dhabi, Feb 2: The UAE’s top diplomat on Wednesday came out in defense of President Donald Trump’s order temporarily barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, UAE foreign minister, said the US was within its rights to take what he said was a “sovereign decision” concerning immigration. Sheikh Abdullah also voiced faith in