Middle East

Manama, Nov 11: Bahrain’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has died, the state media reported. He was 84. “The Royal Court mourns His Royal Highness … who passed away this morning at Mayo Clinic Hospital in the United States of America,” the Bahrain News Agency said on Wednesday, without elaborating. The Gulf state’s King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced

Dubai, Nov 8: In a major overhaul of the country's Islamic personal laws, the United Arab Emirates has shown green signal to some of the haram activities including cohabitation of unmarried couples (live-in relationship). It also loosened alcohol restrictions. The broadening of personal freedoms reflects the changing profile of a country that has sought to bill itself as a skyscraper-studded

Riyadh, Nov 4: The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) launched Wednesday a Labor Reform Initiative (LRI) under the National Transformation Program (NTP) that aims to support the Ministry's vision of establishing an attractive job market, empowering and developing labor competencies and developing the work environment in the Kingdom. The initiative allows job mobility and

Abu Dhabi, Nov 3: UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. Sheikh Mohammed shared a picture on Twitter of him getting vaccinated by a medical staffer. Sheikh Mohammed said, "While receiving the COVID-19 vaccine today. We wish everyone safety and great health, and we are proud of our teams who have worked relentlessly to make the

New Delhi, Nov 3: Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) -- MIC Redwood 1 RSC Limited -- became the first foreign SWF to be notified and granted 100 per cent income tax exemption for long term investments to be made in specified priority sectors, the Union Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The MIC Redwood 1 RSC Limited of Abu Dhabi has been provided 100 per cent income-tax (I-T)

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