Middle East

Jeddah, Mar 29: In another significant move to Saudize jobs and prevent cover-up businesses, the Labor Ministry has instructed the so called “owners” of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to work for their firms full-time and register their names with the General Organization for Social Insurance. “Saudi owners working in their own firms should not have any other jobs,” said Hattab Al-Anazi

Dubai, Mar 28: After months of speculation, prototypes and feedback from the public, it appears Dubai Police has finally shifted gear to unveil its all-new patrol car to protect the city streets. The authorities unveiled the images on micro blogging site Twitter, with the Chevrolet Camaro two-door prototype having many online enthusiasts reminiscing of supercar KITT in the popular ‘Knight Rider’

Jeddah, Mar 27: An agreement is expected to be reached between the Saudi telecommunication sector and operators of WhatsApp, Viber and Skype, Al Arabiya reported Tuesday, after the Saudi government threatened to block the messaging applications earlier in the week. A source told Al Arabiya that the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) officially requested the Saudi

Dubai, Mar 27: An SMS message sent by a husband to his wife containing the word ‘divorce’ is enough to make the divorce valid, according to a fatwa of Dubai’s Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities. A report in the Arabic newspaper ‘Al Ittihad’ said the fatwa came in response to an enquiry by man who wanted to know whether the SMS message he had sent to his wife telling her that

Jeddah, Mar 26: The Cabinet yesterday passed a law that would allow spouses accompanying King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship students to receive special monthly allowances. “If a scholarship student is accompanied by his Saudi wife at the place of his study he would be entitled to have an extra payment equal to his basic monthly allowance,” the Cabinet said. The same extra payment shall be given to

Jeddah, Mar 26: The Council of Ministers yesterday issued a new law making independent national identity cards mandatory for Saudi women within a period of seven years. Saudi males 15 years old and older should also obtain separate identity cards. “A Saudi citizen completing 15 years of age must have a national ID card of his own, and this shall be optional for those between 10 and 15 years,” the

Jeddah, Mar 25: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal yesterday distributed free residency permits (iqamas) to the first applicants of the Burmese community in a historic move to legalize the status of nearly 500,000 refugees in the Kingdom. “This is one of the beautiful moments in my life,” said Prince Khaled while addressing a ceremony at Kudai near Makkah. He thanked Custodian of the Two Holy

Jeddah, Mar 24: At least 2 million expatriates may lose their jobs or leave the Kingdom shortly as about 250,000 small and medium enterprises will be listed in the Red category of the Labor Ministry’s Nitaqat system on Wednesday. “About 250,000 trade, industrial and service firms have been given warning that their work permits would not be renewed because they have so far failed to employ at least

Jeddah, Mar 23: A large number of Umrah pilgrims arriving from Asian countries this week are about to set a new record. The Ministry of Haj has indicated that more than 6 million pilgrims are likely to come for Umrah this year, up from 5.5 million last year. The season opened on Dec. 14 last year, and will close on Aug. 22. Airlines operating flights to Jeddah are reportedly fully booked for Umrah

Kuwait City, Mar 21: Kuwait, where expats make up 68 percent of the population, plans to reduce the number of foreigners living in the Gulf state by 1 million over the next decade, a minister said. “The ministry will take decisions and measures... aimed at reducing the number of expatriate workers by 100,000 every year for 10 years to reach one million,” Social Affairs and Labour Minister Thekra