Middle East

Jeddah, Nov 1: “North Spear” military exercises began Sunday in the northwestern region of Saudi Arabia in parallel with the Bahrain-hosted first Gulf joint exercises titled Arab Gulf Security-1. Participating in the North Spear exercises are units from the Royal Saudi Land Forces, the special forces of Malaysia and the United States and the Saudi Special Forces. The drill will continue until Nov

Jeddah, Nov 1: Saudi Arabia has appointed Capital Market Authority Chairman Mohammed Al-Jadaan as its new finance minister by royal decree, replacing Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who had held the post since 1996. Al-Assaf, 67, had been the last veteran member of Cabinet to remain in a key post through a series of government reshuffles after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman assumed power last

Jeddah, Oct 31: Saudi authorities are not ruling out a nexus between the terrorist groups in Yemen and Daesh which plotted to bomb the Al-Jawhara Stadium in Jeddah on Oct. 11. More time is needed to determine the nature of this link, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told a press conference Sunday. A terror nexus is suspected because the targeting of the football stadium

Riyadh, Oct 30: Labor and Social Development Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani has called for the consolidated support of the private sector's participation in the Saudization program, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020. The minister made these comments while delivering the keynote address at the Eighth Social Dialogue Forum on "Professional management

Riyadh, Oct 29: The ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militias targeting the holy city of Makkah late on Thursday evoked worldwide condemnation on Friday with foreign ambassadors in Riyadh, key world leaders and prominent organizations joining Saudi society in unequivocally denouncing the “heinous act.” In a uniform voice, ambassadors in the capital slammed the attack. The missile was

Jeddah, Oct 28: A citizen has sent a complaint to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC or Nazaha), calling for investigation into an alleged case of corruption involving the appointment of the son of Civil Service Minister Khaled Al-Araj to the post of project manager for a monthly salary exceeding SR21,000. The complaint came soon after the minister stated that the typical Saudi employee

Oct 27: UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has called on telecommunications devices retailers to avoid selling unapproved and unlicensed devices in the country and make sure these devices have authentic stickers provided by suppliers before selling them to customers. The TRA has made the warning during an awareness workshop organised in Al Ain City in collaboration with the Abu

Jeddah, Oct 26: Two Saudi security personnel were shot dead on Tuesday morning after they came under heavy gunfire from an unknown source while returning from their workplace in Ras Tanura province. The suspected terrorists fled the scene and security agencies are still continuing investigation into the case and searching for the perpetrators of the crime. Media spokesman of the Eastern Region

Riyadh, Oct 25: The Cabinet on Monday renewed the Kingdom’s determination to fight the terrorist activities of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and to continue work with partners around the world to expose its terrorist and criminal activities. This was reaffirmed during the government’s weekly meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Monday at the Yamamah Palace

Doha, Oct 24: Three days of national mourning will be observed in honor of Sheikh Khalifa, who was the grandfather of the current Emir, QNA reports. Qatar to observe three days of mourning after the former emir, who ruled for more than 20 years, passed away at 84. This means that any special events are likely to be canceled and flags will fly at half-mast on public buildings. However, schools and