Middle East

Doha, June 20: Qatar and the UAE have announced the reopening of their respective embassies and consulates with immediate effect. The detente was broadly welcomed by regional leaders and analysts. Qatar’s embassy in Abu Dhabi and its consulate in Dubai, as well as the UAE’s embassy in Doha, will reopen on Monday, according to the Qatar News Agency (QNA). Both sides stressed that the significant

Paris, June 20: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the Kingdom’s official reception in Paris on Monday to present its candidacy to host Expo 2030. Representatives of 179 member countries of the Bureau International des Expositions, which organizes the expo, also attended the event in the French capital. The crown prince toured an exhibition held by the Royal Commission for the City of

Ramallah, June 13: Palestinians are deeply concerned about a draft law being discussed in the Israeli Parliament to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque and aim to request the support of Turkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia and Egypt to prevent the law from being implemented. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh warned Israeli authorities against submitting the bill, proposed by Likud party member Amit Halevi

Foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have strongly condemned Israel's plans to build new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, urging international action to stop such plans. The foreign ministers voiced the condemnation during the body's 156th ministerial meeting in the Saudi Arabia's capital city of Riyadh on Sunday. The ministers rejected the regime's

Riyadh, June 9: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that Saudi Arabia is always open to have a dialogue with its friends but doesn’t respond to pressure. “When we do anything we do it on our own interest and I don’t think anybody believes that pressure is helpful,” he said in response to a question on how Saudi Arabia deals with human right talks with international partners

Israeli forces have carried out a raid against the city of Ramallah in the Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank, wounding at least 10 Palestinians. The troops targeted the city, which serves as the seat of the Palestinian Authority, in early Thursday, attacking its residents with both live rounds and rubber-coated steel bullets. Citing a witness, Reuters said "a large military convoy" arrived in downtown

Dubai, June 8: An earthquake of magnitude 2.1 was detected in the UAE's Al Fayy area late Wednesday night, according to an advisory released by the National Centre Meteorology (NCM). The minor tremor was recorded at 11.29pm in the UAE-Oman border, the authority added. Experts had earlier said that UAE residents have no reason to worry about earthquakes. "The UAE has low to moderate seismicity

Riyadh, June 7: Iran reopened it embassy in Saudi Arabia for the first time in seven years on Tuesday (June 6). The move has reaffirmed a Chinese-brokered rapprochement between two formerly antagonistic powers in West Asia. The rapprochement is likely to change the equations in the region greatly. The Iranian mission has opened in its former premises in Riyadh's diplomatic quarter. The location is

The CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala is planning to launch a passenger ship service between the coast of the southern state and the Gulf countries to provide affordable travel for Malayali expatriates in the Middle East who are forced to pay exorbitant airline charges for their trips home. A high-level meeting held here on Wednesday, May 31, decided to devise a plan to start a passenger ship

Dubai: The rule of Dubai has announced a new plan for the Palm Jebel Ali, a man-made palm-shaped island that has been dormant since 2009 following a real estate crash, and is double the size of the functioning Palm Jumeirah. "Its visitors and tourists will enjoy more than 80 hotels and resorts that provide beautiful tourist experiences," Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also vice