JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia will cut spending and issue more bonds as it faces a record budget shortfall due to falling oil prices, the finance minister said on Sunday. Following oil prices’ drop to below $50 a barrel, the Kingdom has so far relied on its huge fiscal reserves to bridge the gap but Finance

WASHINGTON: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and US President Barack Obama have directed Saudi-American officials to develop mechanisms for the establishment of a new strategic partnership between the two countries for the 21st century, said Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir. Based on

WASHINGTON: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, who is on a historic visit to the US, met American President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington on Friday, with talks focusing on reining in Iran and tackling trouble spots in the Middle East. Obama made the rare move of greeting

RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman is holding historic talks here with American President Barack Obama that would ensure significant headway in bringing peace to the troubled Middle East, the Royal Court said in a statement on Thursday. King Salman and Obama would discuss a ran

JEDDAH: Over two million animals would be available for slaughter this Haj season, according to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). Suleiman Al-Jabri, chairman of the JCCI’s livestock traders committee, said that more than 1 million sheep, goats and cows would be provided to markets

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Japan are this year marking their 60th anniversary, with growing cultural and business relations. Consul General Matahiro Yamaguchi met recently with Arab News Editor in Chief Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi at the newspaper’s offices and said that interaction between the two na

JEDDAH: The Cabinet on Monday approved new regulations related to temporary and seasonal work visas. At a meeting, chaired by Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Moahmmed bin Naif, the Cabinet took the decision after reviewing a report submitted to the Council of Ministers by the Labor

Women in Saudi Arabia have for the first time been able to register as candidates for the country's municipal elections in December. In 2011, the same year as the most recent polls, the late King Abdullah granted women in the kingdom the right to vote and run as candidates, saying: "We refuse to

RIYADH: A total of 43 warehouses were shut down in Jeddah for failing to take safety and health measures. Officials of the general department of Civil Defense in Jeddah carried out inspection at 165 industrial complexes in the industrial zone recently. The field campaign led by the director in cha

ALKHOBAR/JEDDAH: A fire at the Saudi Aramco residential complex in Alkhobar early Sunday killed at least eleven people and injured more than 200, civil defense officials said. Some of the injured were in “critical condition” and confined at nearby hospitals, the Civil Defense Department said. It

JEDDAH: A group of economic experts has warned that the Kingdom stands to lose SR795 million per day by using oil to generate electricity and for water desalination, and called for tapping renewable and alternative energy resources. According to statistics, the Kingdom’s current oil consumption s

Al Jazeera has described the verdict of an Egyptian court a deliberate attack on press freedom after it sentenced three of its journalists to three years in prison. Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Canadian Mohamed Fahmy are heading back to jail after a retrial found them guilty of broadcasting false n

JEDDAH: A total of 94,390 people, most of them Saudis, aged 15 to 59, are jobless because of their unwillingness to work, according to an online newspaper quoting the Central Department of Statistics and Information. Among them, 65.2 percent are Saudis and 72.7 percent women. The CDSI report, wh

The White House confirmed on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Washington on Sept. 4. "The president and the king will discuss a range of issues and focus on ways to further strengthen the bilateral relationship, including counter

JEDDAH: Officials from the Saudi Ministry of Haj have been holding meetings with their counterparts from Arab and South Asian nations in preparation for this year’s pilgrimage. Abdulrahman bin Ali Al-Nafei, assistant deputy minister of Haj and in charge of the ministry’s Makkah branch, had a meetin

RIYADH: Senior Indian police and intelligence officials interrogated two Saudis after they were detained following their suspicious movement in Trichy, a southern city in India’s Tamil Nadu state. Officials detained the duo — Rasheed and Abdul Rahman — after they received reports saying that one of

RIYADH: With the opening of the academic year, Riyadh Traffic Department has urged 4.8 million motorists in the capital to respect traffic rules and regulations while taking all measures to regulate traffic flow. They also called on motorists to comply with instructions which will contribute to t

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health has taken all necessary measures to control the rising incidence of MERS in Riyadh and a 24X7 epidemiological surveillance system is in place in Makkah and Madinah. This information was given to reporters here on Sunday by Deputy Health Minister Abdulaziz bin Saee