Middle East

Jeddah, Mar 14: The holy city of Madinah will have a major facelift shortly as a large number of development projects are being implemented there at a cost of more than SR 100 billion. Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, yesterday visited an exhibition of Madinah projects organized by the Madinah Development Authority. The exhibition showcased the new expansion ordered by

Riyadh, Mar 12: The Council of Ministers yesterday condemned Israeli attempts to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque and its aggressive practices against worshippers, students and the Holy Qur’an, calling on the international community to take a firm stand against such provocative acts. “Such aggressive actions represent a violation of the international conventions and treaties as well as a violation of the

Jeddah, Mar 11: More than 550,000 young Saudi men and women are expected to participate in the third edition of Makkah Youth Forum 2013, which was launched here yesterday by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal. “Youths are makers of the future and it is our duty to prepare them to carry out this mission properly,” the governor said while highlighting the annual forum’s importance. Students from

Jeddah, Mar 10: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal yesterday indicated that Saudi Arabia may give citizenship to refugees who have been living in the Kingdom for several years as part of government’s efforts to correct their residency situation. Addressing a forum for developing disorganized residential districts in the Makkah region, Prince Khaled said the project would focus mainly on people

Madinah, Mar 9The poorly manufactured and unsafe electronic products that have saturated the Saudi market are “time bombs” just waiting to go off, said the western regional director of Mutabaqah — the laboratory testing arm of Saudi Customs. A study conducted by Mutabaqah, found that 80 percent of electronics available in Saudi markets are “shoddy” and that some 33 percent of home accidents

Jeddah, Mar 8: Saudi Arabia is offering investment opportunities worth $ 625 billion to Indian businessmen in vital sectors such as infrastructure, petrochemicals, electricity, IT, tourism, natural gas production, agriculture and education. “We had successful meetings with Indian business leaders and executives in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Lucknow,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Rabiah, chairman of Saudi

Jeddah, Mar 7: Fifteen Saudi women who are breaking new grounds in the social, educational, economic, political and cultural fields have been named in the list of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women, published this week by CEO Middle East. The highest Saudi entry was second place Lubna Olayan, while Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel and Mona Al-Munajjed ranked third and ninth, respectively. UAE

Jarusalem, Mar 6: Clashes erupted in Jerusalem on Wednesday after eight Jewish settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of Israeli police, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. The settlers prayed in front of the mosque before clashes broke out with Palestinian Muslims, a guard at the mosque told MENA. "Israeli authorities allow military troops, settlers and even tourists to

Dubai, Mar 6: Dubai’s police described it as a plot similar to an Indian movie. The main characters are an Indian father, an Uzbek mother and their son but the setting was thousands of miles from India, taking place in Dubai and Kenya. The ending also has a stark resemblance of that in a film but it was still not clear whether it is a happy or sad end. Perhaps the readers have to judge. Starting

Jeddah, Mar 4: The Jeddah Islamic Port ranks among the top 100 global ports annually. In fact, the establishment of an integrated project will ensure the presence of a security system that fills any gaps or security breaches at a financial cost of SR 15.98 million. Capt. Saher bin Musa Altahlawi, general manager of the Jeddah Islamic Port, confirmed that the port entered the competition more than