Middle East

Dubai, Dec 30: Rahul Gandhi, the chairperson of All India Congress Committee, will address Indian expats and interact with NRI business tycoons in the region during his two day UAE tour on January 11-12 as part of his international outreach. The visit to the UAE will be his second to the Gulf region this year. In January, Gandhi visited Bahrain shortly after taking over as the Congress chief in

Cairo, Dec 29: Egyptian security forces have killed 40 suspected militants in three separate incidents in North Sinai and Giza, the ministry of interior said on Saturday, a day after a deadly bombing on a Vietnamese tourist bus in Giza killed four people. The ministry did not say whether the suspected militants were connected to Friday's attack, but said its forces killed 30 people during raids on

Cairo, Dec 29: An explosion on Friday targeting a bus carrying Vietnamese tourists on an excursion to the Giza pyramids left four people dead and 10 others wounded, Egyptian authorities said. Three of the tourists were killed along with the tour guide, an Egyptian citizen, Attorney General Nabil Ahmed Sadeq said in a statement. The bus driver and nine other Vietnamese visitors were wounded

Damascus, Dec 28: The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus Thursday, the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian government back into the Arab fold. The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012, as the repression of nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating war. Nearly seven years later, the Emirati flag was raised again during a ceremony

Moscow, Dec 27: A royal decree to reshuffle the Saudi Cabinet, headed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, was issued on Thursday, local media reported. According to the Al Arabiya broadcaster, under this decree, Ibrahim al-Assaf, former Saudi finance minister, became the country's foreign minister, while Adel al-Jubeir, who used to be the foreign minister, was appointed as the minister of

Abu Dhabi, Dec 27: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has announced the resumption of diplomatic service at the Embassy of the UAE in Damascus, Syria. The Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy has begun discharging his duty from today. The ministry said that the move underscores the UAE government's keenness to restore relations between the two brotherly countries to their

Abu Dhabi, Dec 25: The first pictures of a princess of United Arab Emirates (UAE), who had reportedly made an abortive bid to run away months back, have been released by the government in an apparent effort to show that she was doing well. In three low-resolution photographs released by the UAE's Foreign Ministry, Sheikha Latifa, daughter of UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Riyadh, Dec 23: Prayers were held Sunday for Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, a senior member of the royal family who supported women's rights and once led a group of dissident princes, who died at the age of 87. Prince Talal was an older brother to King Salman and the father of businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. He is the son of the founder and first ruler of modern Saudi Arabia, the late King

Turkey has hit out at Israel's "lawless occupation" of Palestinian territory after the Israeli prime minister accused Turkey of "massacres" against Kurds in a new war of words. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu labelled Benjamin Netanyahu "a cold-blooded killer of modern times", in a Tweet on Sunday, adding that the prime minister was "responsible for massacres of thousands of innocent

Sharjah, Dec 21: Ibrahim Al Jarwan, member of the Arab Union for Space and Astronomy Sciences, AUAS, said that on Saturday, December 22, 2018, the Sun will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere, which occurs when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. Al Jarwan added that either December 20, 21, 22 or 23, will be the longest midnight of the