Middle East

Dubai, Jan 25: Qatar was urged to stop a cleric from continuing to insult the UAE, following a televised Friday prayer sermon in which he accused the UAE of being “against Islamic rule”. The Egyptian-born Yousuf Al Qaradawi, speaking live on Qatari state TV from a Doha mosque, was talking about the developments in Egypt that followed the ouster of former president Mohammad Mursi, a Muslim

Abu Dhabi, Jan 24: The UAE Ministry of Labor has so far issued 11,000 part-time work permits since the scheme was introduced in early 2011. Humaid bin Dimas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, said: "The part –time work permit scheme was started in early 2011 with the aim of achieving greater flexibility in the labour market and meet urgent labour needs of employers to

Sharjah, Jan 23: An Indian worker who could not go home even once in the past 12 years because he did not have a valid residence visa, has died in Sharjah. The 52-year-old Thekkummale Lakshman, from Karimnagar near Hyderabad in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, was found suffering from chest congestion on a street near Rolla and was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead. Heart

Dubai, Jan 20: The New Year is clearly lucky for two Indian friends, who won two Infiniti cars – QX60 and G25, and cash of Dh100,000 at the mega Infiniti raffle draw. The duo - Naushad Mavullaparampat and Rajesh Modokandiyil - had pooled in and bought the Dh200 raffle ticket during the Dubai Shopping Festival. They had decided to put down 32-year-old Naushad’s name on the raffle ticket. Both hail

Jeddah, Jan 20: In a heart-warming gesture rarely witnessed, a Saudi businessman in Buraidah celebrated the wedding of his Indonesian driver and, what is more, handed over the keys of his personal car to the groom as a wedding gift that has been applauded by Saudis and expats alike. Rashid Al-Shallash, the businessman, not only footed the wedding bill of Solikin Abu Ahmed, but also paid his salary

Jeddah, Jan 18: Aisha Al-Otaibi, CEO of fashion wear company Danat Valia, recently announced that she is opening an academy specialized in art and fashion design. The college, to be opened in Alkhobar, will be the first in the Kingdom to specialize in these fields and will open its doors to students for the academic year 2015/2016. Al-Otaibi: “We carried out a feasibility study” and reserved “a

Jeddah, Jan 16: The US National Security Agency (NSA) has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world allowing it to carry out surveillance on those devices and also provide a digital highway for cyber attacks, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia is among the countries where such surveillance software has been covertly installed, according to The Times which

Dubai, Jan 16: Little Mohammad Bawazeer needs help urgently. The baby was born prematurely under the most trying circumstances on October 25 after his mother Kauser Nahdi, 21, who was visiting Dubai, slipped and fell on a pavement and subsequently died of complications. Two and a half months later, Mohammad remains in a hospital in Dubai as his father tries desperately to raise money to get him

Jeddah, Jan 15: Jeddawis noted illegal expatriates disappeared from the streets during the first weeks that followed the end of the amnesty period to avoid being deported, but now with the crackdown campaigns receding they are back at their old places in various parts of the city. However, sources from the Ministry of Interior stressed that the campaigns against the violating expatriates were

Dubai, Jan 14: Dubai fired 479,651 shells of fireworks on New Year’s eve, dazzling its way into the record books. Not only did Dubai succeed in breaking the world record in the world’s “Largest Fireworks Display” category, the emirate also managed to smash it by firing roughly 80,000 shells per minute and 1,332 fireworks per second. Revealing the details of the record, Guinness World Records said