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100,000 gather to see Mandela, many turned away

PRETORIA, South Africa: An estimated 100,000 South Africans lined up in Pretoria to view Nelson Mandela in his casket but about a third of the overwhelming crowd was sent away without being able to file past the bier.Many of the frustrated mourners fought back tears of disappointment on the third and last day of the revered leader’s lying in state. Mandela’s coffin was taken away by a military guard to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria. The anti-apartheid icon will be flown Saturday to his rural home in Qunu, Eastern Cape where he will be buried on Sunday.Hundreds of people cheered and some burst into song when Mandela’s cortege left Pretoria’s Union Buildings, the seat of government, for the last time Friday evening.“It was amazing,” said Keneilwe Mohapi, who stood with her mother as the impressive motorcade went by. “We couldn’t ask for a more fitting end. It’s an honor to say goodbye to...

YouTube forecast to rake in $5.6bn from ads

SAN FRANCISCO: Industry tracker eMarketer forecasts that YouTube will rake in about $5.6 billion fro...

Dollar and euro at 5-year highs

HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed while the dollar and euro hit five-year highs against the yen, a...

Execution in Bangladesh sparks violent protests

DHAKA: The execution of an opposition leader in Bangladesh sparked violent protests Friday as activists torched homes and businesses belonging to government supporters, leaving at least three people dead, in a new wave of bloodshed ahead of elections next month. Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, was hanged Thursday night for war crimes during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan. The case has exacerbated t...

Geneva 2 invitation to KSA rekindles hope for Syrians

Saudi Arabia and Iran are among more than 30 countries invited to attend the Geneva 2 peace conference amid expectations that the Jan. 22 event would end the three-year-old Syrian tragedy that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions. Saudi political analyst Jamal Khashoggi expressed hope that the participation of Saudi Arabia in the conference would help bring about peace in Syria. “Although Sau...

SAUDI ARABIA »

Pleasant weather wows Kingdom

Saudis and expatriates all over the Kingdom are enjoying the salubrious winter climate sweeping across the Kingdom. The country’s northern region witnessed snowfall...

Grand mufti calls suicide bombers...

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh has condemned suicide bombings as grave crimes, reiterating his stance in strong language. “Killing oneself is a grave crime and a grave sin,” Al-Asheikh was quoted as saying by a local newspaper on Thursday. “Those who kill themselves with explosives are criminals...

Expats shocked as Dhaka hangs top...

The Bangladeshi community expressed shock and dismay over the execution of top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, on Thursday. The senior leader was hanged for massacres committed during the country’s bloody 1971 war of independence, making him the first person to be put to death. Musharraf Hossain, a B...

Prison assault video under probe

The Jeddah Prisons Authority has launched a probe into the alleged assault on a prisoner by fellow inmates in Briman Prison. It appears the alleged victim was assaulted over a dispute involving SR100. It also seemed as if one inmate wanted to punish him for being convicted of drug dealing. Maj. Abdullah Al-Harbi, spokesma...

MIDDLE EAST »

Iran quits nuclear talks protesting US blacklist move

TEHRAN: Iran has quit nuclear talks with world powers, accusing Washington on Fr...

Clashes kill 40 as car bomb fears force UN to shut office

SANAA: Security officials say more than 40 people have been killed in sectarian...

WORLD »

Philippines typhoon death toll tops 6,000

MANILA: The number of people dead after one of the world’s strongest typhoons st...

NKorea executes leader’s uncle as a traitor

PYONGYANG, North Korea: North Korea said Friday that it had executed Kim Jong Un...

ECONOMY »

SAMA issues first real estate financing license to Riyad Bank

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has issued the first license for real e...

Kingdom, UAE capture 46% of FDIs in Arab states

Saudi Arabia and the UAE captured 46 percent of the foreign direct investments (...

SPORTS »

Fiery Boult bowls New Zealand to victory

WELLINGTON: Trent Boult led New Zealand to their first Test win in more than a year Friday when he produced career best figures in a fiery bowling display that crushed th...

Guangzhou targets Bayern at Club World...

AGADIR, Morocco: China’s Guangzhou Evergrande are out to beat African champions Al-Ahly in Saturday’s quarterfinals of the Club World Cup to set up a last four clash with European titans Bayern Munich.The regional champions from each of the FIFA regions are gathering in north Africa to decide which is the best domestic team...

Lee fears no one in Superseries...

KUALA LUMPUR: World No.1 Lee Chong Wei put on a less than stellar performance to beat Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen to top Group A at the BWF World Superseries Final on Friday.The Malaysian, who is chasing a record fourth Superseries title, but his first since 2010, edged the fighting Dane 23-21, 24-22 in 50 minutes before decl...

PSV bows out of Europa League; Spurs,...

LONDON: PSV Eindhoven’s disappointing season took a turn for the worse as they went out of the Europa League after losing 1-0 at home to Ukrainians Chernomorets Odessa, who pipped them to second place in Group B on Thursday.Former European Cup winners PSV, languishing 10th in the Dutch league, needed a point to make the las...

OPINION »

Elsa Franco Al Ghaslan

Creative Thinking: Check it out!

Still delving into the mysteries of Life and our capability, as well as possibil...

Ramzy Baroud

Between hope & history

It has been nearly a week since I embarked on a speaking tour in French-speaking...

Farouk Luqman

Cairo: A city known for its rich culture and education

Cairo is one of the first cities on my list because of its special influence on...

Aijaz Zaka Syed

Familiar games in Afghanistan

So this is how the cookie crumbles. The United States says that the much debated...

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Vehicles collide on a snowy road in Amman

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ART & CULTURE »

Renowned artist trains 27 women painters

Twenty-seven women painters participated in a training course on painting pastels organized by the Hail Plastic Arts Society at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cultural Center in Hail recently.
Salma Al-Afnan a well-known painter trained the participants over a four-day period which concluded Friday.
Saita Al-Sabhan, the supervisor of t...

Jeddah — the city of arts and...

Traditional art and craft decl...

Saudi artists display unique s...

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY »

Great will of China: Lunar rover lands o...

BEIJING: A space module carrying China’s first lunar rover is scheduled to land on the moon Saturday, authorities said Friday, describing the manouevre as the mission’s greatest challenge.
The spacecraft is scheduled to make touchdown 12 days after the Chang’e-3 mission blasted off on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellit...

Comet ISON pronounced dead

Facebook ‘helps grow home-base...

Swiss set sights on becoming w...

FASHION »

Pakistan fashion casts off ‘dark cloud’...

Mention the Taleban to Pakistan fashion designer Kamiar Rokni and his irritation is clear.
“One of the things we feel diminishes our work is whenever our story is linked to Talebanization and whether we are doing this to fight extremism,” he told AFP in Paris.
“We’re not. We’re doing this for the busin...

Ski fashion: Rainbow of color...

Ajrak: A symbol of Sindhi cult...

Qumar14: Chic kaftans

TRAVEL »

An Oz-some trip to land of beauty

When you live in the bustling and noisy East, you need to take some time off now and then to travel somewhere far away, to immerse yourself in a new cultural experience and a serene landscape.
One such destination, which is guaranteed to offer you both a vast wilderness and thriving city encounter, is Australia, a vast country located in...

SCTA sees surge in home touris...

SCTA: Tourism key to Saudi gro...

Lisbon — edge of Europe

FOOD & HEALTH »

Today’s kids less fit than children from years ago

Don’t look now, but your mom and dad may be gaining on you.A recent report by the American Heart Association — a big organization that encourages adults and kids to stay healthy — found that kids 30 years ago could run faster and longer than kids today.The report, which reviewed 50 studies involving millions of kids from around the world, found that today’s kids are 15 percent less fit than kids from years ago.What does that mean? Let’s say you’re a 12-year-old girl. You’re not a sports superstar, but you’re pretty good — kind of average. Let’s say your mom was the same kind of kid when she was your age.Now imagine we could set up a mile-long race between you and your mom from 30 years ago...

Shobak — creative pies

Many have been sharing photos of their delicious pies on different social media platforms, which made us head there and try for ourselves. And to be honest, we loved it! The pie store is a small two-floor restaurant located on Malik Road right next to Tujjar Jeddah, neighboring Fa6or Faris and 20 Minutes Burger. The restaurant is cozy and rustic, decked entirely in wood, from the chairs, tables to the hardwood floors and wall decorations. The ground floor is reserved for singles, while families dine upstairs with a wide window view overlooking Malik Road. The place is always buzzing with young Jeddawis grabbing a bite on their way to college, school or work. The restaurant is a...

Unraveling the mysteries of the brain

This week, I intended to start a series of articles on the effects of the brain on the body and obesity. Coincidentally, “The Brain Forum” took place in Jeddah Dec. 3-4, providing the appropriate platform to launch an introduction to my next articles. The huge hall was humming with low voices of leading brain scientists, professors and researchers from world-class universities and research labs. The vibrations felt like brain waves. There was a special aura in the air. Listening to each and every one of these scientists speak about their endeavors to reverse brain disorders was a jolt to the brain. Surgery, laser, drugs, genetic engineering, and electric currents were some of...

OFFBEAT »

It’s over for Bollywood's Hrithik, Sussanne

Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne ... parting ways

MUMBAI: Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan and his wife Sussanne are ending their marriage, ndtv.com reported. They had been...

Charity to raffle a Picasso for $138

PARIS: For aspiring art collectors everywhere, there is hope. Sotheby’s Paris is giving away a $1 million masterpiece by Pablo Picasso for just $138 in an unusually affordable charity raffle Wednesday. The 1914 work “Man in the Opera Hat,” which features vivid shapes in opaque gouache paint, dates from the Spanish master’s cubist period. Raffle tickets — limited to 50,000 — have been available online since April. The International Association for the Safeguard of Tyr owns the Picasso, and hopes to raise $6.9 million to protect the ancient Lebanese city...

Patterson wants kids to share his love of reading

James Patterson didn’t plan to become a famous children’s author. He wasn’t even a big reader when he was a kid, despite having a teacher for a mom and a grandmother who was a librarian. “I didn’t read as much as I should have,” he admits. “I read what I had to.” It wasn’t until college, when he could read what he wanted, that he grew to love books. “I just couldn’t get enough. And it got me scribbling,” he says. “I really liked scribbling. I like telling stories.” A glance at the “P” author...