 The spending associated with the fasting month of Ramadan contributes handsomely to expansion of the Saudi economy. The month of fasting, this time spanning from July 20 to August 19, is noted for enticing a large of visitors to the Grand Mosque in Makkah for Ramadan Umrah. In fact, a …
Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected to the opposition seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a spokesman for Hijab said on Monday, marking one of the highest profile desertions from the Damascus government. Syrian state television said Hijab had been fired, but an …
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah proposed last December that the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, should move “to the stage of unity in a single entity” in response to uprisings in the Arab world and the perceived threat from …
The resignation of Kofi Annan from his role as U.N. envoy to Syria does no more than recognize what has been clear for most of the past three months, namely that in this case, the standard peacemaking model of a ceasefire followed by talks between the parties to produce a compromise has no …
Saudi Arabia leads the standings at the Olympic equestrian team show jumping competition after a first day dominated by a veterinarian’s decision to disqualify a Canadian horse. The Saudis had just one penalty point Sunday and were followed closely by the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and …
Saudi authorities have officially invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the extraordinary Islamic summit which would take place mid-August in Mecca, the Saudi media reported Sunday. The summit aims to ‘discuss the situation faced by many states in the Islamic world, to …
By appointing Prince Bandar bin Sultan as its new intelligence chief, Saudi Arabia has installed what looks like a war cabinet at a time of rising tensions with Iran and growing internal dissent from its Shiite minority. The Saudis have also heightened their alert level in other ways to …
Growth of business activity in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector fell to its lowest level for seven months in July as new orders and output growth slowed, a survey of over 400 private companies published on Sunday showed. The SABB HSBC Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index, which …
Omar Ibn al-Khattab, ruler of a nascent Islamic empire in the seventh century, once convened a meeting in Medina to admonish his subjects “for avoiding trading and leaving the markets in the hands of the foreign traders”. The story underscores the importance given by Islam to real economic …
A Saudi soldier was shot dead patrolling an area populated by minority Shiite Muslims late on Friday, the Interior Ministry said, and one of the gunmen was killed in the ensuing shoot-out. The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November in protests by …
 Masked gunmen opened fire on an Egyptian Army base in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, killing 15 soldiers who were preparing to break their Ramadan fast. The gunmen then seized at least one armored vehicle and headed toward Israel, apparently in an attempt to storm the border, witnesses …
Just as the U.S. returns its attention to concealed weapons of mass destruction programs in Syria and (possibly) Iran, the Air Force is saying its mega-weapon for blowing up hidden factories of death is finally ready. That would be the Massive Ordnance Penetrator — all 30,000 destructive …
There are still almost 80,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and each month brings a few dozen home in coffins — more than 2,000 since 2001. Hundreds more arrive on medical evacuation flights, many of them without a limb. The war will cost taxpayers more than $100 billion this year. The Taliban, …
The first time I met Prince Bander bin Sultan was in 1982 at the Naval Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Virginia. He was the Saudi defense attaché and was visiting some Saudi Navy ships before sailing to Saudi Arabia. I met him two more times and it was very hard not to admire him….
 During three visits lasting a month at a time, photographer Olivia Arthur talked, laughed, and lived with Saudi women. She encountered hundreds of women and girls whose lively, outgoing personalities debunked the funereal stereotype of the black abaya.
While civil war rages on the Syrian battlefield between regime loyalists and myriad rebel factions, another battle is taking place in the media world. Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, the two Gulf-based channels that dominate the Arabic news business, have moved to counter Syrian regime propaganda, …
A number of leading investors in the Kingdom’s taxi sector have plans to establish a giant company with a capital of SR 1 billion. Saeed Al-Bassami, deputy chairman of the National Committee for Land Transport, said more than 730 investors who own about 30,000 cabs are seriously thinking of …
 Saudi students at Murray State University in Kentucky have received a license to establish an Islamic center where they can organize cultural and social programs along with observing religious rites. Saudi students had been performing their prayers and Iftar in a rented building in which other …
 Saudi telco Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has awarded IBM a five-year contract worth SR1.05bn ($280m) to outsource its information technology operations, it said in a bourse statement on Sunday. The contract will be self-financed and will lead to improvements in Mobily’s products as well as making …
According to data by Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), telecom companies in the kingdom have earned SR65bn from their operations at the end of 2011, and realised an average growth rate of 12.8%during 2001-2010, Arab News has reported. Revenues of mobile …
 Conservative clerics remain — no surprise — unmoved. But even some feminists here are questioning the Olympic experiment. Some see the move as a groundbreaking precedent; others worry it is a cynical public-relations salve that won’t change hearts, minds or gym regulations. In London, …
Expressing surprise at the artificially rising prices in Saudi markets, Al-Towaim said: “Prices of consumer goods in the Saudi market are rising at the rate of 30 percent while in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar they are falling at the same rate, even when the purchase base in the Kingdom is …
The labor and interior ministries will launch a major campaign shortly to drive out illegal foreign workers. A joint committee will be formed to conduct field inspections to check workers who violate the Kingdom’s labor laws. “The campaign will cover all cities and streets of the Kingdom,” an …
/Provided as a service from the Saudi-US Trade Group, Washington, DC/</pre>
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