Middle East

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

Riyadh, Dec 14: A recent report of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, seen by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, showed that there are 2,225 Saudis who have been employed during the recent period by private sector establishments under a scheme of settling violations imposed on them. These firms took advantage of the violation settlement service, launched by the ministry earlier, in exchange

Kabul, Dec 12: Kabul woke up to a gruesome rocket attack on early Saturday morning with one killed and two wounded. The Interior Affairs Ministry reported that ten rockets were fired from the Lab-e-Jar area in Kabul on various parts of the city, including locations near the airport, Hawashinasi area in PD9, Zan Abad area in PD9, and Khwaja Rawash area in PD15. One person was killed and two were

Dubai, Dec 10: The Makkah Criminal Court on Wednesday issued a new ruling acquitting 13 defendants in the Grand Mosque Crane collapse case, including Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi media such as Okaz/Saudi Gazette reported. In the new verdict, the court said it had found nothing new than what it had earlier ruled in the case. It said it would send a copy of the verdict to the Court of Appeal to

Jerusalem, Dec 9: Israel will receive an initial shipment of Pfizer Inc. coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, a day earlier than first announced. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech last month agreed to provide Israel with 8 million doses of the vaccine, which Britain became the first country to administer on Tuesday. The prime minister’s office said in a

Dubai, Dec 7: Bilateral trade between the UAE and Israel will reach $5 billion as "there are plenty of opportunities", especially in technology, logistics and other industries, senior officials have said. “We estimate at least $5 billion trade in the beginning between the UAE and Israel and it will increase as there are many opportunities. From the technology side, we see huge opportunities. We