World news

Think you’re rich? This man earned Dh76,660 every minute of last year…

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

The story of Maurice Bucaille’s inspiring conversion to Islam

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

Florida man swallowed by large, sudden sinkhole

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

Syrians fleeing war likely to soon pass million - UN

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 added to hacker hit list

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

Japan probe finds miswiring of Boeing 787 battery

[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

12 die as warplane crashes in Sanaa

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

More than 6 million Umrah pilgrims expected this year

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

150-foot asteroid misses Earth, makes closest known flyby

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

'The end of the world?': Terror over Russian meteor, around 950 injured

[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

North Korea threatens 'stronger' action after nuke test

Seoul: North Korea said its nuclear test today was only a "first" step and warned of stronger action if it was faced with tougher sanctions as a result. "The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said i

United Nations condemn North Korea's nuclear test, vows action

United Nations: The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's third nuclear test on Tuesday and vowed to take action against Pyongyang for an act that all major world powers, including traditional ally China, have denounced. "The members of the Security Council strongly

Navy SEAL describes moment he shot Osama bin Laden three times in the head

Washington: The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden broke his silence Monday, recounting the night he shot the Al Qaeda leader three times and the financial anxiety he now faces as an unemployed civilian. The commando kept his identity secret in the Esquire magazine interview, but revealed his r

'Close' asteroid may miss Earth but could take out your phone

London: An asteroid due to whizz past the Earth this week could take out vital telecommunications satellites, scientists warn. They are sure there is no chance of the 45.7 metre wide space rock hitting the planet. However, there is a remote possibility that it could collide with one of more th

US Northeast digs out from blizzard, storm brewing in plains

Boston/ New York: The US Northeast started digging itself out of a blizzard that dumped up to 40 inches of snow with hurricane force winds, killing at least nine people and leaving about half a million customers without power. Airports slowly cranked back to life on Sunday, rare travel bans i

Egypt court orders YouTube banned for a month

Cairo: A Cairo court has ordered that the website YouTube be banned in Egypt for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world. Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered the government on Saturday to block YouTube because it carries the amateur film produced by an Egyptian i

Blizzard brings US northeast to a halt

BOSTON: A massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions is sweeping through the Northeast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to more than a half a million customers. More than 23 inches of snow had fallen in parts of central Connecticut by ear

A square meter of land in Makkah now costs SR 2 m

Investors may have to pay a whopping SR 2 million for a square meter of land in the central zone around Makkah by the end of 2013, said chairman of the real estate committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mansour Abu Rayash. Prices ranged between SR 500,000 and SR 1.5 million in 201