Middle East

Dubai, April 10: An Indian father has appealed for help to find his son who went missing along with his car on March 25. Abdul Khader, a businessman from Abu Dhabi, says his son Mohammed Thahseer Berkka, 28, has been missing for more than two weeks. "He is missing with his vehicle and his two mobile phones are switched off. I am worried that he might have been kidnapped," said Mr Khader, who hails

Dubai, April 10: The Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Patrons of the Arts Awards, honoured 47 organisations and individuals for their contributions towards the city’s cultural scene at a prestigious event held on Sunday at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel, in the presence of members of the royal family. In its third edition, the ceremony opened with a delightful musical performance titled

Dubai, April 10: His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, reiterated on Monday his support to steps and measures aimed at facilitating the flow of trade between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and removing obstacles in this regard, considering progress in this direction a step forward in transforming the GCC

New Delhi, April 10: India and Qatar on Monday signed agreements in the field of energy, culture, education, finance and legal to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two nations. India's Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy and Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh al-Sada inked agreements in the presence of Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Dubai, April 9: Dubai’s private schools received the green signal on Sunday to increase fees as the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) announced a new school fees framework. Fee increases for the new academic year will range between three to six per cent this year based on an educational cost index (ECI), which will be announced regularly by the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC), and the

Cairo, April 9: An Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to the Israeli regime and Jordan has once again been hit by a major explosion, which is the fourteenth attack on the energy link since January 2011. The attack on the gas pipeline, which crosses the Sinai Peninsula, occurred on Monday in the northern Sinai at the entrance of the Mediterranean coastal town of Al-Arish, Reuters reported. No group or

Makkah, April 9: The Haramain Railway’s main station in Makkah will cost SR3.2 billion, Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said yesterday after inspecting the progress of work at the station. He said real estate property valued at more than SR600 million have been appropriated for the high-speed railway project linking the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah. The minister was given

Cairo, April 8 : Egypt's Islamist party has put forward a leading Muslim cleric as its presidential candidate.The Gamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, has chosen Safwat Hegazy, a prominent imam who took part in last year's protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.Hegazy was banned from entering France last month along with a number of other high-profile Muslim clerics on the grounds that they

Tehran, April 8 : A prominent Iranian politician has said that Tehran has the knowledge and skills to produce nuclear weapons, but will never do so.Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, the Iranian parliamentarian whose views do not represent the government's policy, said that Iran could easily create the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs, but stressed that it was not the country's

? Madinah, April 8: The Haj Ministry plans to establish a big pilgrim reception center in Hijrah at the gate of Madinah at a cost of SR60 million, Haj Minister Bandar Al-Hajjar announced here yesterday. Speaking to reporters after an inspection tour of Haj facilities in Madinah, he said the new center is designed to serve more than 7 million Haj and Umrah pilgrims annually. He said Hijrah would