Emirati martyr Yousof Salem Ali Al Kaabi's last wish before leaving for Yemen was to build a mosque in his hometown of Madhab in Fujairah. He instructed his family to sell his car and use the money to build the mosque, his sister, Aidah Salem, has said. "My brother was a very compassionate person

JEDDAH: Around 250,000 Umrah pilgrims have booked hotel rooms in Makkah and Madinah through the new “Sijjil” electronic system, Abdullah Qadi, deputy president of the National Committee for Haj and Umrah, has said. Reserving hotel accommodation through the system, introduced by the Ministry of Haj,

JEDDAH: Violators of traffic regulations will soon have their licenses withdrawn and be sent back to driving school, according to the Traffic Department. Brig. Gen. Ali Al-Rashidi, the department’s spokesman, said the new regulations would come into force after procedures are completed with the Nat

JEDDAH: The General Directorate of Passports has announced that fingerprints are mandatory for Saudis to acquire or renew passports and national identity cards, a local publication reported Wednesday. The rule will apply to both male and female nationals aged 15 years and above, a spokesperson of t

DOHA: Qatar was hit by heavy flooding on Wednesday causing gridlock on the desert country’s roads as well as closures of schools and offices. Overnight rain made many roads near impassable for commuters amid reports on social media that even Doha’s Hamad International Airport was affected, due to l

JEDDAH: The first group of Umrah pilgrims has arrived from Malaysia through Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Airport in Madinah, Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar said, adding that top priority is given to security of pilgrims. The embassies of Saudi Arabia do not charge any fee for issuance of Haj and Umrah

ABHA: Empty gas cylinders are being sold fraudulently at a number of shops, creating an uproar among consumers in the governorates of Khamis Mushayet and Rafida. Citizens have called for the immediate intervention of the Ministry of Commerce through its branch in the area to stop this. They complai

JEDDAH/ABHA: A whopping 92 percent of Saudis reject the Daesh terrorist group according to new research conducted by an American think tank. The study was conducted by the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, an online blog in Arabic and English focusing on Middle East issues. One thousand people, h

Saudi Arabia says two police officers have been shot and killed in the country’s east. The state-run Saudi Press Agency says the shooting happened around 1 am on Wednesday in the eastern region of Al Qatif. The report, quoting an unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman, says the of

JEDDAH: Residents of Jeddah witnessed heavy rains in the city on Tuesday with many coming out on to the streets to watch the rare downpour. Inclement weather hit many parts of western Saudi Arabia early Tuesday as the Ministry of Education ordered a one day school closure in the Red Sea city and su

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia, a major economic power in the Group of 20, is a positive contributor to global growth and plays an important balancing act. The Group of Twenty (also known as the G-20) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. The membe

JEDDAH: Some government bodies have recommended the formation of a committee to monitors cooking gas outlets in Jeddah for environmental violations. Sources said the committee will be made up of the police, the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment and the Civil Defense. The sources said sub-m

People will be soon able to submit their applications online at the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department's website, Brigadier Hussain Ibrahim Ahmed, Assistant to the Director General of the Corporate Support Sector, DNRD, said, noting the paper applications shall remain optional for ind

JEDDAH: The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has provided power to more than 10,000 houses here without title deeds in line with royal orders. Sources at the SEC quoted by a local publication said there are plans to provide a further 60,000 such homes in the city with electricity, according to a rep

JEDDAH: The Passport Department launched two additional services on its online Abshir system on Thursday, for multiple entry and exit visas, and single exit and re-entry visas. The department wants to provide a full online service so that people need not visit its offices in person, said Col. Khale

RIYADH: The Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) celebrated on Monday morning the arrival of the giant machine called “Jazlah” which is used for digging tunnels for the Riyadh Metro project “We celebrate today the arrival of the drilling machine Jazlah at one of the train stations in Riyadh in the

JEDDAH: A team from the Civil Defense in Makkah rescued a three-year-old girl from a water tank in Al-Faisaliyah district on Tuesday. Col. Said Sarhan, spokesman of the body, said the child was taken by the Red Crescent to a local hospital. An investigation is under way but no foul play is suspecte

JEDDAH: In a bizarre incident, a team of doctors in Madinah recently spent four hours surgically removing 14 lighters from the stomach of a prisoner who had swallowed them to avoid jail. The prisoner had apparently thought he would be able to spend his sentence in a hospital if he did so, according