Middle East

Riyadh, Dec 26: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, has expressed thanks and appreciation to the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), represented by Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thunayyan, for its initiative and donation to build a hospital for treatment of drug addicts at a cost of SR300 million. The crown prince, who is also the president of the National

Riyadh, Dec 25: Saudi Arabia has welcomed Friday’s UN resolution strongly advising Israel to end its illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, with the Saudi Foreign Ministry calling the decision “commendable.” The vote on Friday at the 15-member UN Security Council passed the resolution 14-0 with the United States, which traditionally uses its permanent place on the council to

Jeddah, Dec 24: Saudi Arabia spends billions on subsidies — so economists were hardly suprised when Thursday’s budget confirmed plans to raise energy and water prices to be more in line with market rates. But what was an innovative move was the accompanying “Household Allowance” scheme, which is designed to soften the blow of the rate increases for some of the Kingdom’s most needy residents. The

Dec 23: I would like to know whether an employee has to pay Dh5,000 as visa charges if for some reason he has to cancel his employment visa after six months of employment. Is there any law in the UAE wherein the employer can ask for the money before cancelling the visa of his employee? Pursuant to your queries, it may be advised that where an employee seeks to terminate his employment contract

Aleppo, Dec 23: The army has said it has retaken full control of Syria's devastated second city Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory against opposition forces since the civil war erupted in 2011. The announcement came yesterday after a landmark evacuation deal that put an end to a ferocious month-long offensive waged on east Aleppo by government forces and allied militia. An army statement said the

Jeddah, Dec 22: Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose on Wednesday on the eve of the government’s release of its 2017 budget. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) climbed 0.4 percent, though trading volume shrank to its lowest level in two months as many investors became cautious before the budget announcement. Volumes weakened further to SR3.3 billion, the lowest in two months. The advances-declines

Makkah, Dec 21: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said listening to citizens’ demands and involving them in future plans to develop the governorates is one of the most important goals of his inspection tours. “During my tours of the governorate a few years ago, I found a majority of projects were delayed while some were under implementation with a few of them completed,” said Prince Khaled while

Ankara, Dec 20: Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was assassinated Monday night during the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition in Ankara when he took to the podium to make a speech. Turkey’s interior minister said the gunman, 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Altintas, who was killed, was part of Ankara’s anti-riot police. The assailant was on duty as a security officer during rallies by

Riyadh, Dec 19: A Saudi-British research team from the Excellence Center of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Oxford University for joint petrochemicals research has discovered a new fast and safe way to convert heavy petroleum hydrocarbons to hydrogen gas in large quantities and at high speed using a catalyst to create a chemical reaction using a developed microwave

Aleppo, Dec 18: Desperation mounted today among thousands of hunger-stricken Syrian civilians trapped in the rebel enclave in Aleppo after their evacuation was delayed by a disagreement over the fate of other besieged areas. As international alarm grew over the plight of residents including women, children, the sick and wounded, the UN Security Council was to vote on whether to send observers to