Middle East

Riyadh, Oct 31: Video footage captured the dramatic moment a car was driven at high speed across the courtyard of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, before finally smashing into one of the doors on Friday night. Saudi security authorities then arrested a man who was pulled from the car, state news agency SPA reported. Reports suggest the car was driven at high speed on a road surrounding the southern

Riyadh, Oct 28: Saudi Arabia plans to cancel a foreign worker sponsorship system, known as kafala, and replace it with a new form of contract between employers and employees, the financial newspaper Maaal said on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. Saudi Arabia, which this year is chairing the Group of 20 major economies (G20), seeks to boost the private sector - and make it more attractive to

Dubai, Oct 28: Indian expats in the UAE and elsewhere can now provide their local address abroad to be added in their passports, Gulf News can reveal. Siddhartha Kumar Baraily, consul, Passport and Attestation, at the Indian Consulate in Dubai said the Indian government had decided to allow its overseas citizens to add their local address in their country of residence mainly to aid those who do

London, Oct 28: Saudi Arabia has removed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan's map, said PoK activist Amjad Ayub Mirza on Wednesday. "Saudi Arab removes Pakistani occupied Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan's map!!!!," he tweeted. He also tweeted a picture that was captioned, "Saudi Arabia's Diwali gift to India-- removes Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir from

Dubai, Oct 25: The Government of Dubai on Saturday announced an additional Dh500 million stimulus package to help local economy cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and expedite economic recovery. This took the total stimulus package announced by the emirate to Dh6.8 billion this year, said Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai

Ankara, Oct 24: Turkey is facing the spectre of a growing terror threat after the US Embassy in Ankara suspended its visa services on Friday and issued a security alert to foreign citizens in the country. The US mission cited “credible reports” of potential attacks and kidnappings of foreign nationals, and urged US citizens to “exercise heightened caution” in public places, including offices and

Dubai, Oct 24: As cooler climes caress the UAE shores, the Dubai Police have issued a series of instructions for the safety of its residents venturing out to the beach. In a tweet on Saturday, the Dubai Police urged visitors to the beaches of the emirate to follow the standard procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Visitors should always wear a mask and maintain social distancing at the

Dubai, Oct 22: Emirates SkyCargo has announced that it is stepping up its readiness to handle the logistical complexities of distributing a potential Covid-19 vaccine globally by creating the world’s first dedicated airside cargo hub for the vaccine in Dubai. The air cargo carrier is taking a global leadership position by announcing that it will be re-opening its Emirates SkyCentral DWC cargo

New Delhi, Oct 20: UAE Ambassador to India Ahmed Albanna had a telephonic conversation with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday in which they discussed areas of defence cooperation between the two countries. "HE @drahmedalbanna [Ahmed Albanna], UAE Ambassador to India had a telephone call with General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defense Staff of India," the UAE Embassy said in a tweet

Abu Dhabi, Oct 20: The first-ever passenger flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel has landed near Tel Aviv, a month after the countries signed an agreement normalising ties. Etihad Airways Flight 9607 landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion international airport just after 7am on Monday. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departed for Abu Dhabi several hours later with an Israeli travel and tourism