ISLAMABAD: Pakistani top leaders, including the prime minister, president and foreign minister, said on Tuesday the ongoing visit of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan to Islamabad would help transform a longstanding friendship between the two nations into a strategic and commercial partnership. Prince Faisal arrived in Pakistan on Monday on a two-day visit … Read more
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden made a fresh plea to Congress to pass aid for Ukraine during a visit by the Czech prime minister Monday, as a fight brews about whether it should be linked to funds for Israel. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he aims to advance wartime aid to Israel this … Read more
Freshwater scarcity is an increasing problem faced by regions all over the world. Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world’s population — experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, and half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025. … Read more
RIYADH: The fourth Gulf Cinema Festival, which runs until April 18, is currently taking place in Riyadh. Organized by the Saudi Film Commission under the patronage of Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the minister of culture and chairman of the commission’s board of directors, the event brings together several pioneers of Gulf cinema. Dignitaries, … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The secretary-general of the Muslim World League, Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, recently met the children of the Ali bin Abi Talib Orphanage in Pakistan. The orphanage, which serves more than 4,600 orphans, is affiliated with the MWL in Islamabad. Al-Issa celebrated Eid with the orphans and inaugurated new facilities, including a gymnasium and … Read more
Why the killing of a Lebanese party official has raised the specter of new sectarian strife BEIRUT: Almost five decades since the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990 began, reactions to the kidnap and subsequent murder this week of Pascal Suleiman, an official of the Lebanese Forces, show the country’s fragile peace remains on a knife … Read more
MOGADISHU: Somalia’s parliament has unanimously approved proposals to overhaul the country’s electoral system to reintroduce universal suffrage, a plan that has been criticized by some leading politicians. Last March, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged to end the complex clan-based indirect voting system in place for more than half a century in the troubled Horn of Africa … Read more
BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to fully implementing all international resolutions, especially UN Resolution 1701, approved in 2006 to resolve the war between Israel and Hezbollah that same year. He also emphasized the need for Israel to implement these resolutions fully and to cease its attacks on Lebanon’s sovereignty. Mikati … Read more
RIYADH: Nigeria’s relations with Saudi Arabia are progressing well, according to outgoing Ambassador Yahaya Lawal. In an emotional message, Lawal told Arab News recently that he would always consider Saudi Arabia his “second home.” “My assignment in Saudi Arabia has been extremely fruitful. I must say that it was very fulfilling as a career diplomat. … Read more
Putin is poised to extend his rule in highly orchestrated vote even as Russians quietly protest MOSCOW: Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday on the last day of a presidential election, apparently heeding an opposition call to protest against President Vladimir Putin in a vote that offered them no real alternatives after he … Read more