Middle East

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

Riyadh, Mar 17: The Ministry of Justice has found 10 women guilty of impersonation during court hearings related to domestic disputes such as divorce, disengagement lawsuits (known in Arabic as “khula“), alimony and inheritance. According to sources, these women would go to court ahead of proceedings pretending to be the plaintiffs in order to withdraw cases filed by women on the opposing side of

Riyadh, Mar 16: Trade and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has said that merchants and factories that engage in the adulteration of products in either the Kingdom or China would be blacklisted. Al-Rabiah made his statement following the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Chinese Public Department for Quality Control, Test and Quarantine, to combat counterfeit and imitation goods during

Jeddah, Mar 15: The Ministry of Labor announced plans to launch a program next week to ensure the rights of domestic workers and to ascertain the responsibilities of employers toward their employees. The program will introduce and discuss the rights that domestic workers are entitled to receive from their employers, including health care, contract renewals, paid sick leaves and days off. In

Riyadh, Mar 13: Pakistanis should ensure they have valid passports to renew their residence permits as required by new Saudi legislation. Pakistan Consul General Aftab Ahmed Khokhar issued this warning here recently at a community function. He said the Saudi government recently introduced new laws making it mandatory for expatriates to have valid passports to renew their iqamas.He said many

Riyadh, Mar 12: Riyadh has been ranked one of the most polluted cities in the world, according a report released by a United Nations organization. The World Health Organization (WHO) report named Ahvaz, the capital of the Khuzestan Province in Iran, to be suffering the worst levels of air pollution, followed by Ulan Bator in Mongolia. The list also included Lahore, New Delhi, Riyadh, Cairo, Dhaka