A large number of Umrah pilgrims arriving from Asian countries this week are about to set a new record. The Ministry of Haj has indicated that more than 6 million pilgrims are likely to come for Umrah this year, up from 5.5 million last year. The season opened on Dec. 14 last year, and will close

RAMALLAH (WEST BANK): Hours after Palestinian militants fired at least two rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that crashed into the Israeli border city of Sderot on Thursday, President Obama travelled to the West Bank city of Ramallah and renewed his call for a two-state solution betwe

Sri Lanka’s president opened the country’s second international airport on Monday, intended to help spur a new economic hub and act as a gateway to the island’s southeast. The Sharjah-based low-cost carrier Air Arabia on Monday became the first foreign airline to start scheduled services out of M

At least 116,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 4,800 coalition troops died in Iraq between the outbreak of war in 2003 and the US withdrawal in 2011, researchers estimated on Friday. Its involvement in Iraq has so far cost the United States $810 billion (625 billion euros) and could eventually re

CAIRO, JERUSALEM // Al Azhar, the 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning, yesterday said it wanted "better relations" with the Vatican after years of acrimony. On Wednesday an Argentine cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergogli, was elected to succeed Benedict XVI. He chose the name Francis. Benedict's

On the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the nightmarish task of cleanup is just about beginning. Experts working on the site say that it may take 30 to 40 years to just clean up the Daiichi nuclear plant. How long it will take to clean the 20 km radius prohibited zone around

Fifteen Saudi women who are breaking new grounds in the social, educational, economic, political and cultural fields have been named in the list of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women, published this week by CEO Middle East. The highest Saudi entry was second place Lubna Olayan, while Princess

Caracas, Venezuela: Hugo Chavez, who rose from poverty in a dirt-floor adobe house to unrivaled influence in Venezuela as its president, consolidating power and wielding the country's oil reserves as a tool for his Socialist-inspired change, died on Tuesday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said. H

For those of us feeling a bit low this Sunday morning, here’s some cheerful bit of news. There are about 1,500 dollar billionaires in the world, with their total wealth amounting to a staggering $5.5 trillion, the equivalent of China’s GDP. The Hurun Global Rich List 2013 is out, which ranks t

MAURICE Bucaille was born to a French parent and, like his family, he grew up a Christian. After his secondary education, he joined Faculty of Medicine, France University. Later, he became the most renowned and cleverest surgeon ever in modern France, but a story happened to change his life complete

Seffner, Florida: A Florida man screamed for help and disappeared as a large sinkhole  opened under his bedroom, his brother said on Friday. No signs of life  had been found. Jeremy Bush heard a loud crash and screaming. He said it took him seconds to get to his brother Jeff's room near midni

UNITED NATIONS: More than 40,000 people a week are fleeing war-torn Syria and the total number of refugees will likely pass 1 million in less than a month, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the U.N. agency

Microsoft joined Facebook and Apple on Friday on the list of US technology titans targeted in recent cyberattacks. “As reported by Facebook and Apple, Microsoft can confirm that we also recently experienced a similar security intrusion,” Trustworthy Computing team general manager Matt Thomlinson

[caption id="attachment_26788" align="aligncenter" width="580"] In this Jan. 17, 2013 file photo, officials examine an All Nippon Airways 787 a day after it made an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan. (AP)[/caption] TOKYO: A probe into the overheating of a lithium

SANAA: A Yemeni air force plane crashed in the capital Sanaa yesterday, killing at least 12 people, security sources said. State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane, on a training flight, came down in a western residential district. Eleven peopl

Over six million Umrah pilgrims are expected in Saudi Arabia this year, one million more than last year, said Minister of Haj Bandar bin Mohammed Al-Hajjar, in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency yesterday. “The number of Umrah pilgrims is expected to cross the one million mark in the mon

Cape Canaveral (Florida): A 150-foot (46-meter) cosmic rock hurtled safely past Earth on Friday. It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,000 miles (27,357 kilometers). That's closer than some satellites. The flyby occurred just hours after a much smaller me

[caption id="attachment_26266" align="alignnone" width="100"] Russia Meteor[/caption] MOSCOW: "I was driving in the car across the square. Suddenly the square lit up with a bright, bright light, not a normal light," said Chelyabinsk resident Vasily Rozhko. Witnesses of the falling meteor over