Middle East

Jeddah, Mar 31: The body of an Indian expat who had fallen into a coma after being hit by a car within merely two months of arriving in the Kingdom was finally repatriated on Saturday after almost two years since the fatal incident occurred. Thirty-one-year-old Zahid Hussain, from Bihar in India, had arrived in a remote village near Khamis Mushait in May of 2012 to work as a heavy vehicle driver

Riyadh, Mar 29: The Labor Ministry has announced tough new measures to curb the illegal trade in visas, with a one- to two-year recruitment ban on companies involved in such activities. If the number of expatriates transferred by a company to other employers exceeds 15 percent, it would only be allowed to recruit new workers after one year, a ministry official said. “If the transfers are more than

Riyadh, Mar 28: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed his half-brother and country's former intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz as the deputy crown prince, paving the way for him to become a future monarch. "Prince Muqrin will receive oath of allegiance as crown prince in case the position becomes vacant, and as king in case the positions of king and crown prince become vacant," a

Jeddah, Mar 27: The Jeddah Municipality is considering a decision to impose fines of anywhere between SR500 and SR1,000 on people who spray-paint profanities and indecent drawings on the city’s walls in both popular and remote neighborhoods, Abdulaziz Al-Ghamdi, municipality spokesman said. Municipality maintenance teams have embarked on repainting several walls and public utilities in

Jeddah, Mar 27: Some 600,000 Saudis, who graduate every year and enter the job market, pose a big challenge to the government to provide them with employment, a senior Labor Ministry official said. Abdul Monem Al-Shahri, director of the Labor Office in Makkah, said over 330,000 Saudi students graduate from schools every year. According to another report, nearly 318,000 graduate from Saudi

Cairo, Mar 24: A court in Egypt on Monday sentenced 529 supporters of ousted president Muhammad Mursi to death after a mass trial, judicial sources said. Islamist backers of Mursi are facing a deadly crackdown launched by the military-installed authorities since his ouster in July, with hundreds of people killed and thousands arrested. The sentence was delivered in the second hearing of a trial

Riyadh, Mar 23: Saudi Arabia’s growing importance in regional and international affairs, as well as its relations with the US, will come under the spotlight when US President Barack Obama visits the Kingdom on Friday. The Kingdom is the last leg of the president’s six-day trip, which will include stops in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Vatican City. Obama will hold talks with King Abdullah on

Jeddah: Authorities are tightening the noose around expat-run foreign schools operating under the auspices of diplomatic missions as these schools are treated differently from private schools. The Ministry of Education is trying to have greater control over these schools by amending the law governing them, which will reduce the role of foreign embassies. The Shoura Council had passed a new draft

Jeddah, Mar 19: Marriage loans will be increased to SR60,000 under a new scheme approved by the Saudi Credit and Savings Bank. The new scheme also includes lowering the age requirement for applicants for family loans. In addition, these loans will be made available for employees who earn up to SR10,000 instead of the previous SR8,000 cap. “The main amendments to the regulations include raising the

Jeddah, Mar 18: America is acting like a Third World country, said Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the US, during an interview with The Financial Times. Speaking about US President Barack Obama’s latest budget proposal, Prince Turki asked: “Is there any chance of that being passed?” Edward Luce, the journalist who conducted the interview, replied in the negative. It was