Saudi Arabia

Rights group condemns lashing, jailing of Saudi blogger on Islam

DUBAI - An international rights group condemned the sentencing of a Saudi Arabian website founder to be whipped 600 times and jailed for seven years for violating Islamic values, saying it undermined the kingdom's stated support for religious debate.

Saudi website editor sentenced to seven years in prison, lashes

DUBAI - The editor of a Saudi Arabian social website has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

World, 30 Jul 2013

Saudi forces capture man wanted for links to Shi'ite unrest

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia has captured a man who features on a list of Shi'ites being sought in connection with unrest in the eastern part of the kingdom after a shootout with security forces, state news agency SPA reported late on Monday.

World, 30 Jul 2013

Saudi Arabia awards $22.5 billion contracts to build Riyadh metro

RIYADH - The Saudi Arabian government awarded $22.5 billion in contracts to three foreign-led consortia on Sunday for the design and construction of a metro rail system in the capital Riyadh.

Deadly Middle East virus unlikely to cause SARS-like epidemic

LONDON - Despite its high current death rate, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that emerged in Saudi Arabia last year is unlikely to cause a SARS-like epidemic because it is not spreading as easily, scientists said on Friday.

Health, 25 Jul 2013

Risk from MERS virus "very low" for haj pilgrims: WHO

LONDON - The risk from a new Middle East respiratory virus for millions of Muslims planning to go to the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia is very low and there is no need for pilgrims to be screened, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

Health, 25 Jul 2013

Six new MERS coronavirus cases reported in UAE, Saudi

GENEVA - Health authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have reported six new cases of the SARS-like coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Health, United Nations, 18 Jul 2013

UAE transferred $3 billion in aid to Egypt, Saudi to follow shortly

CAIRO - The United Arab Emirates has transferred $3 billion in promised aid to Egypt and another $2 billion from Saudi Arabia will arrive shortly, Egypt's central bank governor told the state newspaper al-Ahram on Thursday.

World, Egypt, 18 Jul 2013

Mursi's fall in Egypt comforts Saudis, disconcerts Qatar

RIYADH/DOHA - The $12 billion in aid Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait offered Egypt this week showed their delight at the army's ousting of President Mohamed Mursi in a reversal for Islamists empowered by the Arab ferment of 2011.

World, Egypt, 11 Jul 2013

Kuwait promises Egypt $4 billion in aid-state news agency

KUWAIT - Kuwait will provide $4 billion in aid to Egypt, state news agency KUNA said on Wednesday, matching pledges by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that showed Gulf Arab approval of the Egyptian army's ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

World, Egypt 10 Jul 2013
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Italy's top court upholds Berlusconi prison sentence

ROME - Italy's supreme court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the former prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis.

Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?

Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.