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JEDDAH: Two foreigners died of MERS in Jeddah, the Health Ministry said Saturday, as fears rise over the spreading respiratory virus in the Kingdom’s commercial hub.The ministry said five more people were infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the western city, including two foreign medics aged 54.The latest deaths of a 64-year-old and 44-year-old, whose nationalities were undisclosed, bring to 75 the overall number of people to have died of MERS in Saudi Arabia, from a total of 231 infections.Meanwhile, officials in the Philippines said the government was stepping up its defense against the deadly virus, with the large numbers of Filipino workers in the Middle East seen as potential carriers.“It is important that families, friends and members of their local communities fully understand all that must be known about the MERS coronavirus,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona told a...

Bahrain car explosion kills 2; civil defense personnel injur...

MANAMA: Two people were killed Saturday when their car exploded in a village in Bahrain, the...

Islamabad not to grant MFN status to India, says minister

Pakistan is “no longer” considering India for most-favored nation (MFN) status, said Pak...

Companies given four more months to implement wage protectio...

Companies with at least 1,000 workers are being given four more months to implement a wage protection system that was introduced by the Labor Ministry last year in a bid to ensure employees’ rights. The ministry’s decision to postpone the implementation of the fourth phase of the protection bill for companies with more than 500 workers, originally scheduled for July 1, to Nov. 1 was taken after the Saudi Arab...

Hunt for missing Malaysian jet at ‘a critical juncture’

PERTH, Australia: A robotic submarine looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet is expected to finish searching a patch of the Indian Ocean seabed within a week after so far coming up empty, and the search area may be expanded after that, officials said Saturday. As the hunt for Flight 370 hit the six-week mark, the Bluefin 21 unmanned sub began its seventh trip into the depths off the coast of western Australia. Its...

SAUDI ARABIA »

Singapore to train 3,000 Saudi school principals

Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE) will train 3,000 Saudi school principals over the next few years, Singapore’s Ambassador Lawrence Anderson told Arab New...

Number of Saudi students in US reaches...

The number of Saudi students in the United States has reached 111,000 this year, up from 10,000 in 2007 while the number of Saudi students studying medicine in the States is over 600.The Department of Commerce in the US said that international students have contributed to revive the US economy with $22.7 billion in 2011. “T...

450 universities, institutions take...

The International Exhibition & Conference on Higher Education (IECHE 2014) that concluded in Riyadh on Friday was the biggest ever event for higher education held in the Kingdom.As many as 450 universities and educational institutions from the Kingdom and across the world participated in the annual event, which offers w...

Community service gains ground among...

Voluntary community service among Saudi youth appears to be gaining ground across Saudi Arabia, according to Badr Fahad Al-Jeraisy, media head of the Social Committee in Ergah (SCE), northwest of Riyadh.He noted that in the wake of the two-day 2nd Riyadh Social Forum, the Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ARCO)...

MIDDLE EAST »

Top Egypt censor quits after ‘adults only’ film pulled

CAIRO: The head of Egypt’s censorship board has resigned in protest at a d...

Airstrike kills 13 in Yemen

SANAA: An airstrike killed 13 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the central Yemeni...

WORLD »

Everest avalanche leaves guides in doubt over plans

KATMANDU: Rescuers recovered the body of one mountain guide on Saturday after an...

Boko Haram claims responsibility for Nigeria capital bomb attack

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack e...

ECONOMY »

Pharmaceutical market of KSA estimated at SR13.5 billion

The volume of pharmaceutical market in the Kingdom is estimated at nearly SR13.5...

Ex-Apple chief plans mobile phone for India

NEW DELHI: Former Apple chief executive John Sculley, whose marketing skills hel...

SPORTS »

Wrestling show wows fans; Cena beats Orton

The WWE matches kept the audience at the edge of their seats on Friday night as the world’s best and well-known wrestlers displayed their skills and strength at the Green...

Balotelli leads Milan to 5th straight...

ROME: Mario Balotelli set a personal record with his 14th goal of the Serie A season and set up another score as AC Milan beat visiting Livorno 3-0 on Saturday for its fifth straight win.Still, Milan remained five points behind city rival Inter Milan in the race for fifth place and the final Europa League berth, after Inter...

Ducks, Canadiens seize 2-0 series leads

ANAHEIM, California: Anaheim and Montreal both won on Friday to take 2-0 leads in their NHL first-round playoff series while Detroit took first blood at Boston in the opening game of their clash.Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf — wearing a facemask over his lacerated jaw — had a goal and an assist while Corey Perry scored his first p...

NBA playoffs looking more wide-open...

MIAMI: Before the season started, a poll suggested that the Miami Heat were the overwhelming favorite to win the NBA title, collecting a whopping 76 percent of ballots cast.The voters weren’t some know-nothings, either.No, this was a polling of NBA general managers.Things seem quite a bit different now. The Heat don’t seem...

OPINION »

Alsir Sidahmed

Putin stating Riyadh trump oil card

It is not an academic debate or even one within think tanks, but a simple statem...

Nilofar Suhrawardy

Indian polls: Careers of many at stake

The outcome of the ongoing parliamentary polls will prove to be a make or break...

Bjørn Lomborg

Upside-down narrative of global warming

When politicians around the world tell the story of global warming, they cast it...

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh

Nobody is winning in Syria

A series of recent interviews given by Syrian authorities to foreign journalists...

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ART & CULTURE »

Egyptian artist gives voice to Pakistani...

When artist Wael Shawky attended the 10th Sharjah Biennal in 2011 he became aware of something a little unsettling. This was the unintentional disconnect between the words being spoken by the art curators at the press conferences and a large part of the ‘community’ which the organizers declared it was their intention to reach. He not...

Alkhobar’s Al-Rashid Qaisariya...

Jeddah’s artworks amaze visito...

Arabic calligraphy flourishing...

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY »

NASA’s space station Robonaut finally ge...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: Robonaut, the first out-of-this-world humanoid, is finally getting its space legs.
For three years, Robonaut has had to manage from the waist up. This new pair of legs means the experimental robot — now stuck on a pedestal — is going mobile at the International Space Station.
“Legs are goi...

Tracking posts on social media...

Flu can increase risk of autis...

‘Blood moon’ wows sky-watchers

FASHION »

Skirt trunk show attracts Jeddah fashion...

In the latest event to rock J-town's fashion scene, 15 fashion designers came together with their collections of trendy skirts, especially designed for the trunk show held at Libra Boutique.
The event gathered 12 Saudi designers along with two Kuwaiti designers who were looking to test the Saudi market with their designs.
...

Shopaholism: Is it a disease?

Paraphernalia: Street-wear glo...

Cosmetic herbal recipes with a...

TRAVEL »

Explore stunning Islamic architecture in...

The historic Bidar in the federal state of Karnataka in India now finds itself on the world map of heritage tourism as it figures in the 2014 World Monuments Watch list released by the World Monuments Fund (WMF), a New York-based NGO working for the protection of monuments. I was in Bidar last year especially to feel what a premier madrasa (reli...

Media convoy to capture Taif...

Visitors throng Taif for mild...

New surprises, more fun &...

FOOD & HEALTH »

Face mask can reduce coronavirus risk by 80%

Wearing a face mask can reduce the risk of being infected by the coronavirus by more than 80 percent, Dr. Hana Bakhash, a consultant in infectious diseases and viruses at Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital (DSFH) in Jeddah, told Arab News.“Residents are advised to maintain personal hygiene and wash their hands regularly, as well as avoid large crowds, especially at hospitals, commercial centers, malls and markets,” she said.Pharmacy owners have reported a boom in mask sales, with a 300-percent increase in a single week, indicating fear among locals that has only been exacerbated by rampant rumors on social networking sites.“I hardly used to sell any face masks in the past, but have sold more than...

Baiz: Celebrating tradition, the modern way

Ehnaini cakes, burgers made with traditional Bahraini kebabs, and fries made with ancient aromatic spices are only some of the dishes you can enjoy at the Baiz coffee shop and restaurant in Alkhobar. Everything in the restaurant, from its name (Baiz is an old local term meaning a piece of cloth used to clean surfaces) to the dishes on the menu and the antique interior design uniquely blended with modernity, end up giving a feel of the traditions of the Eastern Province. Eman Al-Bagawi is the co-founder of the restaurant together with her cousin Fai Al-Shammari. She is a marketing graduate whose study has helped her market her project, especially through Instagram and Twitter. She then...

Ohio clinic plans ultra-modern health center in Abu Dhabi

The late United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan traveled 7,000 miles to get there for his kidney transplant. For decades the Cleveland Clinic has provided health care to the upper echelons of Middle Eastern society who fly halfway across the world for treatment at the Ohio-based private medical center. Soon, they can skip the trip. Early next year the Cleveland Clinic plans to open an ultra-modern, 364-bed specialty hospital on Al-Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, one of the most ambitious forays into the oil-rich country by a US health care brand. The expansion comes as the Cleveland Clinic slashes hundreds of millions of dollars off its US operations to prepare for...

OFFBEAT »

White House: No comment on Bieber petition

Justin Bieber ... relieved

WASHINGTON: Troubled pop star Justin Bieber has had high-profile run-ins with the law recently but the White House doesn...

Wills, Kate meet Aussie military families

BRISBANE, Australia: Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate met with the families of Australian soldiers killed in recent conflicts Saturday and took a front-row fighter jet seat as their tour headed north. The royal couple were presented with a boomerang for their infant son, George, and delighted Olympians and ordinary folk alike during a whistlestop tour of Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city. Huge crowds turned out to greet the imperial pair, who began their day at the Amberley Air Force base with military formalities including a guard of honor and flyover by two F/...

Sad selfie: Lady Gaga has wisdom teeth pulled

LOS ANGELES: Lady Gaga has taken time out of her busy, jet-setting schedule for a rather unglamorous reason — having her wisdom teeth removed. And the pop star has taken to Twitter to share a picture in which she is cuddling a stuffed monkey and looking sorry for herself. Referencing her swollen cheeks, she wrote: “Chipmunk Cheeks — Wisdom Teeth out before tour. I can’t eat. I’m gonna put some meatballs in a blender.” And she had earlier commented on her need for painkillers in the wake of the operation. She wrote: “Wisdom teeth out. P-p-Percocet p...