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Five rockets fired at US air base in Afghanistan

KABUL: A major US air base north of Kabul was targeted in a rocket attack on Saturday but there were no casualties or damage to the airfield, NATO and Afghan officials said.Five rockets were fired at

December 20

Region

Explosion at religious gathering in central Afghanistan kills at

KABUL: An explosion at a religious gathering in central Afghanistan killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 20 others on Friday, the country’s interior ministry said, adding that children may be

December 19

Region

German man charged with attempted murder in Carnival attack

BERLIN: A German man has been charged with 91 counts of attempted murder for driving his car into a crowd celebrating Carnival earlier this year in the central town of Volkmarsen, Frankfurt

December 19

Region

UN head stresses need of virus vaccine for all nations

BERLIN: The secretary general of the United Nations on Friday stressed that as wealthy nations roll out the coronavirus vaccine for their citizens, the world also needs to ensure it is available for

December 19

Off the Cuff

EU slams Iran for arbitrary detentions, dissident executions

LONDON: EU chiefs on Thursday called on Iran to release human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and condemned the regime for executing dissidents. Concern has been mounting over the health of Sotoudeh,

December 19

Off the Cuff

Saudi free economic zones under final review by govt: Al-Falih

RIYADH: The free economic zones planned to be launched in Saudi Arabia are under final review by the government, said Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih. Speaking to Argaam during the 2021 Budget

December 19

Region

Germany enters harder lockdown as coronavirus deaths hit new high

BERLIN: Germany reported a record level of coronavirus deaths as it entered a harder lockdown Wednesday, closing shops and schools to try to bring down stubbornly high new daily infections. The

December 17

Region

International team seeking COVID-19 origin to go to China in January:

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a team of international experts would travel to China next month to help investigate the animal origins of COVID-19. “I can confirm that this

December 17

Region

Saudi Budget 2021 Commentary: What will the budget’s break-even oil

HONG KONG: Saudi Arabia’s 2021 budget released this week is in line with October’s pre-budget statement, which was reflected in our decision to affirm its sovereign rating at A and revise the outlook

December 17

Off the Cuff

Saudi Arabia announces 990 billion riyals budget for 2021: King Salman

RIYADH: King Salman announed on Tuesday Saudi Arabia’s 990 billion riyals budget for 2021. More to follow…

December 17

Off the Cuff

Egypt studies selling 3 national companies in 2021

CAIRO: The CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt has revealed that the country plans to sell three companies owned by the National Service Projects Organization (NSPO) of the Armed Forces in 2021,

December 17

Region

YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive services face outage

Many services from Alphabet Inc. , including YouTube, Gmail and Google Drive, were down for thousands of users across the globe on Monday. The company’s video platform did not load for users and had

December 15

Region

Canada to begin Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine roll-out

OTTAWA: Canada will begin a roll-out of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, just days after becoming one of the first countries to approve the treatment. The first shipment of the vaccine

December 15

Region

Russia had nothing to do with suspected US Treasury email snooping,

MOSCOW: Russia had nothing to do with alleged monitoring by hackers of internal email traffic at the US Treasury and Commerce departments, the Kremlin said on Monday. People familiar with the matter

December 15

Off the Cuff

Turkey rebukes Iran’s ‘offensive language’ against Erdogan

ISTANBUL: Turkey on Saturday rebuked Tehran for “offensive language” aimed at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in connection with a controversial poem that might suggest Iran’s northwestern provinces

December 15

Off the Cuff

Bigger role for Arab women urged in scientific research and innovation

DUBAI: When the pandemic is finally defeated, the scientists who devised vaccines in record time will no doubt be hailed as the paladins of coronavirus prevention. So too will the tech experts who

December 15

Region

Prince William thanks pandemic workers at Christmas show

LONDON: Britain’s Prince William and his family attended a Christmas show in London on Friday night, where he paid tribute to medical staff and other frontline workers for their efforts during the

December 14

Region

Author Salar Abdoh’s ‘Out of Mesopotamia’ journeys through the

CHICAGO: “Out of Mesopotamia,” by Salar Abdoh, journeys through a labyrinth of life, from warzones to non-warzones. Abdoh’s profound novel follows a middle-aged man named Saleh, an Iranian journalist

December 14

Region

Yemeni football club captain and son killed in Houthi attack

DUBAI: A Houthi missile hit the grounds of a local football club in Taiz, Yemen, killing Nasser Al-Raimy and his son, Al Arabiya reported on Saturday. Raimy was playing football with his son on the

December 14

Off the Cuff

Strategy of diversifying economy fuels ‘new generation’ of jobs in KSA

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s strategy of diversifying its economy and reducing dependency on oil is creating new career paths for the Kingdom’s chemical engineers, according to one industry leader. Ahmed

December 13

Off the Cuff

Osama Bin Laden’s spokesman back in UK after release from US jail

LONDON: A former spokesman for Osama Bin Laden has returned to the UK after being released from prison in the US. Adel Abdul Bary was freed on Thursday over fears that obesity and asthma put the

December 13

Region

Chinese authorities detain Bloomberg news assistant

BEIJING: US financial news service Bloomberg said Friday that Chinese authorities have detained one of its Beijing-based news assistants on what they said was suspicion of endangering national

December 12

Region

Any vaccine adverse effects up to national agencies to review: WHO

GENEVA: Any adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines are for national authorities to review, the World Health Organization said on Friday in response to questions about Britain warning people with a

December 12

Region

Egypt’s award-winning ‘Lift Like a Girl’ explores the world of

BENGALURU: Egyptian filmmaker Mayye Zayed’s “Lift Like a Girl” recently won the acclaimed Golden Dove for Best Film in two categories at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and

December 12

Off the Cuff

Trump announces Morocco and Israel will normalize relations

CHICAGO: Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalize relations, US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday. It is the fourth such agreement between Israel and Arab nations in the past four

December 12

Off the Cuff

Egypt grieves for famed author Nabil Farouk

CAIRO: Fans bid farewell to the acclaimed Egyptian author Nabil Farouk at his funeral on Thursday. Farouk died of a heart attack on December 9 aged 64.

December 12

Region

Netflix’s ‘Ava’ follows a paid assassin who trips over her conscience

CHENNAI: Netflix’s latest drop, “Ava,” tells a sordid story of murder and mayhem, laced with love and longing. Ava Faulkner, essayed with deadpan coldness by Jessica Chastain, was not born to kill,

December 10

Region

Badminton’s world number one Kento Momota returns to competition

TOKYO: Japan’s badminton world number one Kento Momota on Wednesday announced his long-awaited return to competition as he begins his bid for home glory at the Tokyo Olympics nearly a year after

December 10

Region

China orders removal of 105 apps, including TripAdvisor

HONG KONG: Companies including the Chinese arm of TripAdvisor have been ordered by regulators to overhaul their mobile phone apps in what the Chinese government said is a crackdown on pornography and

December 10

Off the Cuff

Red Sea Development Co. embraces green transport options

DUBAI: The Red Sea Development Co. (TRSDC), the tourism developer wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), is investigating how it can develop clean transport solutions, such as

December 10