Middle East

Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia will resume international flights, opening land and sea ports as from 11am on Sunday, amid strict precautions against the new COVID-19 variant, an official source said. The country had suspended international flights and closed overland and sea ports for a fortnight starting from December 20. The kingdom stipulated that any foreign passenger, who wished to enter Saudi

Tehran, Jan 1: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has offered his condolences on the passing of senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts. In a message issued on Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the late cleric as “a prominent thinker, a competent manager, and an outspoken advocate of the truth with fortitude on

Ras Al Khaimah, Jan 1: The Ras Al Khaimah New Year’s Eve Celebrations dazzled the world with a 10-minute fireworks show that underlined the UAE’s message of hope, peace and achievements. Lighting up the sky over the Arabian Sea, 8,500kg of fireworks lit up a length of 4km and width of 3.9km. The festive panorama of colours was achieved from 81 launch pontoons that shot up 15,281 firework shells

Tehran, Jan 1: The deadly terrorist attack on the airport of the southern Yemeni city of Aden is a result of the foreign occupation of the country, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. "Continued foreign aggression and occupation of Yemeni soil are the key contributors to instability as well as a lack of order and enforcement of the law, and have jeopardized Yemen's

Riyadh, Dec 28: Saudi Arabia has extended the suspension of all international commercial flights and entry into the Kingdom through land and seaports for another week in view of the new coronavirus strain which was discovered in the United Kingdom, the state media said. "An official source in the Ministry of Interior said: Extending the suspension of international flights and entering the Kingdom

Jerusalem, Dec 24: Israel announced Thursday that it will impose a nationwide lockdown from next week, its third of the Covid-19 pandemic, just days after it began vaccinations against the virus. "A general lockdown will be imposed from 17:00 (1500 GMT) on Sunday for two weeks," a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. "There is an option to extend the lockdown for an

Riyadh, Dec 21: Saudi Arabia has suspended all international commercial flights for a week amid reports of the appearance of a new mutated strain of coronavirus in a number of European countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported late Sunday citing an official source at the Interior Ministry. The Kingdom has also decided to close its land as sea borders. The suspension of international travel except

Abu Dhabi, Dec 20: The UAE has welcomed the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement between the legitimate Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council. It further welcomed the formation of a government of political competencies in Yemen, and expressed its hope that this will be a step toward a political solution and an accelerated end to the Yemeni crisis. A statement issued by the

Abu Dhabi, Dec 20: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has hailed the 1.5-million strong Pakistani community in the UAE. This came as he met Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Foreign Minister of Pakistan. He praised the Pakistani community's "great role and active contribution to the growth and prosperity" of the UAE, state news agency wam reported

Abu Dhabi, Dec 18: UAE-based Indian billionaire BR Shetty’s company Finablr Plc is getting ready to selling its business to an Israeli-UAE consortium for $1, capping the collapse of a business that had a market value of 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) last December. Finablr, the scandal-marred platform for payments and foreign exchange solutions, announced that it has entered into ‘a definitive