Middle East

Dubai, Sep 1: Budget carrier Flydubai on Tuesday announced that passengers booking for travel between September 1 and November 30, 2020 will automatically receive free global cover for Covid-19. The new service covers passengers' health expenses and quarantine costs if diagnosed with Covid-19 during their trip and is valid for 31 days from the time they take their first flight on their itinerary

Dubai, Aug 31: Three people were killed and several others were injured on Monday in two separate explosions in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi and its tourism hub Dubai, the police and local media said. The Abu Dhabi government media office said two people were killed in the blast in the capital, which the National daily reported had hit the KFC and Hardees restaurants on the city’s

Abu Dhabi, Aug 31: All places of worship for non-Muslims will be reopened from Monday at 30 per cent capacity, local authorities said on Sunday. "In response to requests, it was decided to allow children to enter the places of worship to practise their religious rituals ... The elderly worshippers who do not suffer from any chronic diseases are also allowed to enter," said Sultan Al Mutawa Al

Abu Dhabi, Aug 31: The first Phase lll trials of an inactivated vaccine for Covid-19 in the United Arab Emirates are among the largest in the world in volunteer recruitment having reached 31,000 vaccinated volunteers from more than 120 nationalities in only six weeks. The speed and efficiency of volunteer registration, screening and vaccination is setting new global benchmarks for the 4Humanity

Riyadh, Aug 30: King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) is working on launching a safe national platform that allows users to communicate and work together in a secure virtual environment, to exchange files and conduct text and voice conversations within the institution, as it is an alternative to commercial products currently available such as the popular WhatsApp application. The

Dubai, Aug 29: The ruler of the United Arab Emirates issued Saturday a decree formally ending the country's boycott of Israel amid a US-brokered deal to normalise relations between the two countries. The state-run WAM news agency said the move was made on the orders of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the Emirates' leader. WAM said the new decree allows Israelis and

Dubai, Aug 29: Mosques and places of worship in industrial areas as well as labour accommodations in the UAE will reopen for worshippers, authorities announced late on Friday night. Taking to Twitter, the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority said: "The General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments and National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority

Tel Aviv, Aug 25: A group of Israeli teenagers volunteering at an archaeological dig have unearthed hundreds of gold coins that were stashed away in a clay vessel for more than a millennium. The 425 24-carat pure gold coins date back to the 9th-century Abbasid caliphate period and would have been a significant amount of money at the time, said Robert Kool, a coin expert at the Israel Antiquities

Ankara, Aug 21: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the discovery of a large natural gas reserves off the Black Sea coast, days after he promised a good news that would usher in a for the energy dependent country. Erdogan said on Friday that the amount of gas discovered is 320 billion cubic meters, adding that he hopes to start extracting and using the gas by 2023. If confirmed as

Dubai, Aug 21: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will establish an embassy in Tel Aviv, its Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said Thursday at a video conference with US-based Atlantic Council think-tank, Anadolu Agency reported. Gargash said when a normalization agreement with Israel is signed that was announced last week, “Abu Dhabi will have its embassy in Tel Aviv based on international consensus to