Middle East

Geneva, Nov 4: At least 239 migrants, believed to be from West Africa, have died in two shipwrecks off Libya, a spokesman for the United Nations migration agency said on Thursday. One group of migrants, including about 20 women and six children, set off in a rubber dinghy from Libya around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, but their boat collapsed after a few hours, said Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesman for the

Dubai, Nov 3: Celebrations might get exciting, but beware of leaving your flag on the ground since it may lead you to prison. According to the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, the UAE flag law states: "Any person who publicly drops, damages or in any way insults the Union flag, the flag of any member emirate in the Union on the flag of any other country as a result of disgust or

Riyadh, Oct 2: Minister of Labor and Social Development Mufrej Al-Haqabani confirmed that developing a common system to extend insurance protection for Gulf citizens working in any of the GCC’s countries will encourage the mobility of labor forces between these countries, and realize economic and social stability in accordance with the strategies of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Minister

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