Middle East

Dubai, Sep 3: Nine new schools will open in Dubai this year, setting a record for the largest number of new schools to open in an academic year since the development of Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in 2007. The opening of these new schools will take the total number of private schools to 159, marking Dubai’s rebound from a financial slowdown during the global economic crisis

Jeddah, Sep 3: Saudi Arabia will not be lenient with violators of Haj regulations, the Council of Ministers said Monday, reaffirming the Kingdom’s move to prevent Saudis and expatriates from performing the annual pilgrimage without Haj permits. “The Kingdom will be strict in executing punishment on violators of Haj regulations,” said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja after the

Jeddah, Sep 1: The recent ministerial decision that prohibits daughters of expatriate workers to transfer their sponsorship from their guardian to their employer and the decision that disallows them to work at all has sparked disagreement among expat families and working daughters in the Kingdom. Shabal Amri, a Jordanian national working at Al-Rajhi Bank in Jeddah, says that there is no way the

Sharjah , Sep 1: Nurses, tailors and bakers are some of the workers in 86 low paid job categories who will once again be able to drive around on Sharjah streets, after authorities overturned a 2008 decision to withhold licences from such residents. The news is not only being welcomed by those affected workers, but driving schools who are anticipating a cash injection from an influx of customers

Dubai, Aug 31: The premium of Brent crude over Dubai has soared to the highest in almost two years on tensions over Syria, but how long it stays there depends not only on the likelihood of conflict, but on how Asia’s major crude buyers respond to the crisis. The Brent-Dubai exchange for swaps reached $5.88 a barrel on August 28, the highest premium for the world’s light crude benchmark over the

Buraidah, Aug 30: Abdul Aziz Al-Twaijri, a member of the National Council for Palms and Dates, has alleged that huge quantities of Saudi dates are being sold in European markets with a “country of origin” label other than that of Saudi Arabia. Speaking on the sidelines of Buraidah Dates Festival, Al-Twaijri said the Saudi produce was being accessed to Asian and European markets through neighboring

Jeddah, Aug 24: The Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh has stressed the need to adhere to the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah to unify the Ummah and to avoid conflict and division. He said that deviating from the teachings of the Qur’an, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions is the reason behind current tribulations and calamities, in addition to deviating from moderation and issuing

Beirut/Amman, Aug 22: Syria's opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people on Wednesday by firing rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept. With the dead estimated at between 500 and 1,300, what would be the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s prompted an emergency meeting of the

Riyadh, Aug 20: Saudi Arabia has warned foreign Hajis against politicizing the annual pilgrimage, saying it would not tolerate any move to violate the event’s sanctity and security. “We have signed agreements with all foreign Haj missions to make sure their pilgrims strictly follow the Kingdom’s regulations,” said Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar. “Exploiting Haj for political purposes will be a

Dubai, Aug 18: All mosques to be built in Dubai starting next year will be environment-friendly. Dubai’s Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF) secretary-general Tayeb Al Rais said the first of these eco-mosques, which is also the first in the Middle East, was expected to be completed and opened in the first quarter of next year, with some 60 per cent of the work already finished. “We do want