Middle East

Jeddah, Jul 18: Saudi authorities in Dammam have detained Turkey's military attaché to Kuwait upon request of the Turkish government, Al Arabiya online news reported Sunday midnight. Quoting Saudi sources, Al Arabiya said the military officer, Mikael Ihsanoglu, was to board a plane at Dammam Airport on his way to the city of Dusseldorf, Germany, passing through Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The

Riyadh, Jul 16: An employer does not have the right to retain the passport of his expat employee without the employee’s consent, Khalid Aba Al-Khail, spokesman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, said. However, if the expat worker wishes the employer to keep his passport, he has to sign a written statement in both Arabic and his native language stating that the employer has received

London, Jul 9: A British court has awarded a 53 million pounds( USD 69 million) divorce settlement to a former model who had demanded 196 million pounds from her Saudi billionaire husband -- including 1 million pounds a year just for clothes. Lawyers for US national Christina Estrada, 54, said the total settlement amounted to 75 million pounds, including the value of her existing assets. She had

Tabuk/ Riyadh, Jul 9: Fahd Musallam Hammad Al-Nujaidi Al-Bluwi has renounced his terrorist brother Naer Al-Bluwi, who carried out Monday’s suicide bombing in Madinah, stressing that he strongly rejects the terrorist act perpetrated in the vicinity of the Prophet’s Mosque. He said his brother’s actions went against Islamic teachings and that all his family members have disowned Naer and condemned

Jeddah, Jul 4: Diplomatic security officials managed to thwart an attack on the US consulate in Jeddah in the early hours of Monday morning. The suicide bomber only managed to kill himself as he attempted to attacked the heavily protected consulate. Reports say two security officials were hurt in the incident and have been taken to hospital. Security officials cordoned off the area around the

Al-Quds, Jun 28: Israeli military forces have once again raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem) and engaged in scuffles with a group of Palestinians there. On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces stormed the mosque for a third consecutive day as a large number of Palestinian worshippers were performing prayers at Islam’s third-holiest site during the

Jeddah, Jun 16: Expatriates outnumber Saudis in some parts of the country, including Jeddah and Jubail, according to statistics released by the Public Statistics Department. According to the report published in local media on Wednesday, the population of Saudi Arabia at the end of 2015 was 31.5 million, with Saudis standing at 21.1 million or 67 percent, while expatriates were at 10.4 million or

Jeddah, May 29: The imam and preacher of the Quba Mosque in Madinah has said that music is not haram or forbidden. Sheikh Saleh Al-Maghamsi clarified that he was referring to music, not singing, which he said is haram. “The nation is in bad need of novelty and modernization, and I strongly believe in this, whether people accept my views or not,” he said during a talk show on MBC channel hosted by

Dubai, May 24: Dubai is all set to woo tourists with the world's first Bollywood-themed amusement park where visitors will be able to enjoy immersive 3-D and 4-D rides and stunts from movies such as 'Krrish' and 'RA.One' and savour a "Mughal-e-Azam" style banquet. Dubai Parks and Resorts complex, a Dh 10.5 billion (about USD 2.75 billion) venture, will have 16 cinematic rides, six themed

Riyadh, May 19: Despite the many regulations put in place by the government with the aim of protecting expats, many continue to suffer at the hands of their Saudi sponsors and employers. For Ahmed Mahsoub, an Egyptian driver, the trouble started when he asked his sponsor, which happened to be an educational institute, for a salary certificate in order to buy a new car. As soon as he got the small