Arab News
Vision 2030 ‘transforming KSA’
Vision 2030 had already transformed Saudi Arabia and would continue to do so for the next four years and beyond, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Monday. The project was launched in April 2016 to reduce the Kingdom’s dependence on oil...
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Araghchi back in Pakistan for US-Iran ceasefire talks
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad again on Sunday as Pakistan’s political and military leadership scrambled to reignite ceasefire negotiations between Tehran and Washington, but President Donald Trump said they could talk by...
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Trump cancels Kushner, Witkoff trips as Araghchi leaves Pakistan
The latest ceasefire talks between the US and Iran appeared to fail on Saturday before they began, as Tehran’s top diplomat left Pakistan and President Donald Trump soon afterward said he had told envoys not to travel to Islamabad. However, Trump...
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Iran-backed militias in Iraq attack Kuwait with drones
Two drones launched by Iranbacked militias in Iraq on Friday struck the northern border in Kuwait. The attacks caused “material damage but ... no human casualties,” the Kuwaiti military said. After the Middle East war began on Feb. 28, pro-Iran armed...
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US forces board tanker loaded with Iranian oil bound for China
US troops on Thursday boarded and seized a tanker loaded with Iranian oil bound for China. The Pentagon published dramatic footage of soldiers descending from helicopters on to the deck of the Guinea-flagged Majestic X. “We will continue global...
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Standoff in Hormuz
Competing naval blockades created a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday amid continuing uncertainty over US-Iran peace talks. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked three container ships attempting to pass through the vital waterway, and US...
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No more bombs for now, but pessimism stalks Tehran streets
The bombs have stopped falling for now, but the mood among Iranians on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday remained darkly pessimistic. “I think at the end of the day, there will be no agreement achieved. Probably, there will be war again,” said Babak...
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Sudan leader visits Jeddah
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, in Jeddah on Monday.
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Trump says peace talks to resume
President Donald Trump said US negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday for another round of talks with Iran, raising hopes of extending a fragile ceasefire set to expire by Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran remain in a standoff over the...
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KSA condemns French soldier’s killing in Lebanon; Macron blames Hezbollah
Saudi Arabia on Saturday strongly condemned an attack targeting a French contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three others injured. Both President Emmanual Macron and the UN interim force...
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Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz but Trump says US blockade remains
Iran on Friday ended its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused global economic chaos since the start of the Middle East war at the end of February. The strategic waterway would be open “for all commercial vessels” for the duration of the...
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Lebanon and Israel have agreed to 10-day ceasefire, US president says
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday after speaking by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joseph Aoun. Crucially, since the two countries are not actually fighting each...
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Iran issues new threat to attack shipping in Red Sea
Iran threatened on Wednesday to attack Red Sea shipping, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at extending a ceasefire and ending the Middle East war. The new US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was “a prelude to violating the ceasefire,” said...
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Pressure mounts on US and Iran for new Middle East peace talks
Renewed Middle East peace talks could begin as soon as Thursday as the US and Iran face growing pressure to resume negotiations that collapsed last week in Islamabad. Pakistan again offered itself as host, China floated a peace proposal, France urged...
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Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters clash in key Lebanese border town
Fierce clashes erupted again on Monday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in the key town of Bint Jbeil, ahead of peace talks between the two countries due to begin on Tuesday in Washington. The Israeli military said its troops had...
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Pope Leo says he is ‘closer than ever’ to Lebanese people
Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness to the people of Lebanon on Sunday, saying there was a “moral obligation” to protect them while calling on warring parties to seek peace. “I am closer than ever, in these days of sorrow, fear, and unconquerable hope...
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Tributes paid to Saudi officer who lost his life in attacks
Jarrah bin Mohammed Al-Khaldi, a Saudi victim of attacks on energy facilities, was laid to rest in Dammam on Tuesday. Funeral prayers were held for Al-Khaldi, 44, at Al-Furqan Mosque. His passing drew widespread public attention online. Saudis,...
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Hormuz and Lebanon emerge as twin threats to fragile ceasefire
Israeli attacks killed at least seven people in southern Lebanon a day after hundreds died in the largest attack since the war began. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a Lebanese request for direct negotiations “as soon as possible,”...
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Hundreds killed in Israel’s biggest wave of strikes in war on Lebanon
At least 254 people were killed on Wednesday in an unprecedented wave of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon after Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu said the new Middle East ceasefire did not apply there. The US president said Lebanon was not included...
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World holds its breath
Donald Trump issued an apocalyptic warning to Iran on Tuesday as his deadline neared for Tehran to reach a peace agreement and reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. The US president gave Iran’s leaders until 8 p.m. in Washington (3 a.m. Saudi time)...
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New Israeli strike hits Iran’s largest petrochemical plant
Israeli airstrikes hit Iran’s largest petrochemical complex on Monday amid a wave of attacks by the US and Israel that killed more than 30 people. The giant plant at Asaluyeh in Iran’s southern Bushehr province services the South Pars natural gas...
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Lebanon president calls for talks to prevent Gaza-style destruction
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated on Sunday a call for negotiations with Israel, saying he wanted to spare his country’s south from destruction on the scale seen in Gaza. “It is true that Israel might want to do in southern Lebanon what it did...
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Niece of ex-IRGC’s chief to be deported from US
The niece and grand-niece of former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020, was arrested late on Friday after their green cards were revoked. ‘Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now...
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Italy PM visits KSA
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who arrived in Jeddah on Friday to discuss energy security affected by the Middle East war.
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Iran is ‘holding world economy hostage’ with Hormuz blockade
The UK accused Iran on Thursday of holding the world’s economy hostage by blocking the Strait of Hormuz as diplomats from more than 40 countries held talks on ways to reopen it. The meeting showed “the strength of our international determination,”...
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Teenagers with machineguns in reign of fear on Tehran streets
Teenagers and boys even younger are patrolling the streets of Tehran armed with machineguns in a new reign of fear. They have set up checkpoints around the Iranian capital, with traffic cones and barriers blocking the roads. One Tehran resident, a...
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‘Go get your own oil,’ Trump tells allies who won’t join war
A frustrated Donald Trump on Tuesday told US allies reluctant to join the war against Iran to go to the Strait of Hormuz and retrieve their blockaded oil. Iran has imposed a chokehold on the strategically vital strait since the US and Israel began the...
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High level Jeddah talks
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks in Jeddah on Monday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and King Abdullah of Jordan. They discussed the Middle East war and its risks to freedom of navigation and the security of energy...
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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan call for dialogue to end Iran conflict
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have emphasized the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy to deescalate rising tensions in the Middle East, the Pakistani Foreign Office stated on Sunday. This came as Islamabad hosted quadrilateral talks involving the...
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Lebanon president calls Israeli strike that killed 3 journalists ‘blatant crime’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike that killed three journalists in southern Lebanon on Saturday. “Once again, the Israeli aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the...
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Iran threatens to attack Saudi port of Yanbu on Red Sea coast
The Revolutionary Guards also warned civilians across the Middle East to stay away from areas near US forces and avoid hotels that accommodated US military personnel. Accusing US-Israeli forces of using non-combatants as human shields, the Guards told...
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Ukraine’s president in surprise visit to Kingdom for talks on air defense
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday as the Middle East war sparks interest from the Gulf states in Ukrainian air defense technology. “Arrived in Saudi Arabia. Important meetings are scheduled,”...
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Iran rejects plan to end war
Iran on Wednesday rejected a 15-point US plan to pause the Middle East war and instead offered its own plan, with a massive gap between the two sets of proposals. The US plan demands the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, limits on ballistic...
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Israel and Iran trade new waves of attacks
Iran claimed on Tuesday that airstrikes had targeted its energy assets despite a pledge by US President Donald Trump to postpone such attacks while peace talks continued. Authorities in Tehran said one strike hit natural gas infrastructure in Isfahan,...
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US is in talks with the potential next leader of Iran, Trump says
The US president also postponed threatened attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure because negotiations with “a top person” were going well. At the weekend, he had given Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants,...
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A flicker of hope in Syria’s ruins
Children in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus on Sunday — the third day of Eid Al-Fitr — enjoy rides at an amusement park set up on a piece of land surrounded by buildings destroyed during Syria’s civil war.
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Crown prince, El-Sisi discuss regional crisis
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Jeddah on Saturday, where they discussed regional developments. The leaders stressed that repeated Iranian attacks targeting the Gulf countries, including civilian...
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Saudi leaders’ message of peace while Iran fans the f lames of war
The Kingdom’s leaders delivered an Eid message of peace on Friday while Iran attacked Jerusalem’s Old City on one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar. As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took part in Eid Al-Fitr prayer at the Grand Mosque in...
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‘Our patience is not unlimited’
Saudi Arabia reserved the right to take military action against Iran if necessary, the Kingdom’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday. “The Kingdom and its partners possess significant capabilities, and the patience we have shown...
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Saudi Arabia hosts Arab summit to back region’s security, stability
Saudi Arabia hosted a summit of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss ways to support regional security and stability in light of the Middle East war. The meeting was also attended by delegates from...
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Israel claims Larijani dead
Israel claimed on Tuesday that it had killed Iranian national security chief Ali Larijani and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the feared Basij paramilitary internal police force. The two men died in separate airstrikes, Defense Minister Israel...
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Allies reject Trump demand for warships in Strait of Hormuz
“It’s the place from which they get their energy. And they should come and they should help us protect it,” Trump said. German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said Berlin “took note” of Trump’s comments, but added: “The US did not consult us...
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Israel kills 850 in Lebanon in two weeks
An Israeli artillery gun fires rounds toward southern Lebanon on Sunday. Lebanon’s health chiefs said that Israeli attacks have killed 850 people in the country during two weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah.
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Trump rejects efforts to launch Iran ceasefire talks
President Donald Trump’s administration has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war that started two weeks ago with a massive US-Israeli air assault, according to three sources. A senior...
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US offers $10m reward for information on Iran leaders
The US offered a $10 million reward on Friday for information about Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and other senior officials connected with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s interior minister and minister of intelligence and...
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Hormuz blockade to stay, says new supreme leader of Iran
“The popular demand is to continue our effective defense and make the enemy regret. The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” he said in a defiant address read out by a state TV presenter, the first remarks attributed to him...
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Iran warns Gulf residents to stay 1 km away from banks
Military authorities said they had “free rein to target economic centers and banks” after deadly US and Israeli strikes hit a bank in Tehran. The new threat followed similar tit-for-tat attacks on Gulf oil infrastructure and a water desalination plant...
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US, Israel and Iran trade threats on 11th day of war
The US and Israel traded threats with Iran on Tuesday as drone and missile strikes on the Gulf continued on the 11th day of the war. President Donald Trump described the conflict as a “short excursion,” and said it had been effectively won. Despite...
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Iran will be ‘biggest loser’ if attacks on Gulf continue
If Iran pressed ahead with its attacks it would bear the heaviest diplomatic, economic, and strategic consequences, and would be “the biggest loser,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The targeting of civilian airports and oil facilities is nothing but a...
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Two killed, 12 injured in attack on Saudi residential compound
A military projectile fell in a residential area in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kharj governorate on Sunday, killing two people and injuring 12 others as the Iran war’s targets widened dangerously into civilian infrastructure. A Saudi Civil Defense spokesman...
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Israel kills 41 in Lebanon during search operation for long-lost navigator
An Israeli special force that landed in eastern Lebanon in search of information about a navigator who has been missing for nearly 40 years did not find his remains, the Israeli military said Saturday. The operation left dozens of people dead and...
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Saudi air defenses intercept new wave of drone and missile attacks
Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed four missiles and five drones in the skies above the Kingdom on Friday, the seventh day of the USIsrael-Iran war. Three ballistic missiles targeted Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj, one drone was shot...
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Iranian envoy denies Tehran attacked US Embassy in Riyadh
“Iran had no role in the attack,” Alireza Enayati said. “If the operations command in Tehran attacks somewhere, it takes responsibility for it.” The ambassador also thanked Saudi Arabia for not allowing its airspace or territory to be used during the...
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Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill 72 and displace 83,000 in three days
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 72 people and displaced more than 83,000 since Monday, the Health Ministry in Beirut said on Wednesday. Hezbollah said its fighters were engaged in clashes with Israeli forces in the southern Lebanese town of...
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Kingdom condemns Iran drone strike on US Embassy in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday condemned what it said was an Iranian drone attack on the US Embassy in Riyadh. The strike by two drones caused minor damage and a small fire, and black smoke rose over Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, which hosts many foreign...
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KSA thwarts drone attacks
The US-Israel-Iran war that has dragged in the Gulf states escalated on Monday with an attempted drone strike on the giant Ras Tanura oil refinery on the east coast of Saudi Arabia. Two drones were intercepted and destroyed, and falling debris caused...
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UK plans evacuation of thousands of Britons from Gulf
The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office is drawing up plans to evacuate tens of thousands of British citizens if war in the Middle East escalates, several British media outlets have reported. There are conflicting accounts as to how many British...
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Riyadh denounces ‘cowardly attacks’ as Iran targets civilians across GCC, Jordan
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned what it described as “Iranian violations of the autonomy of several Gulf and regional states,” the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. The ministry denounced a “flagrant” infringement of the sovereignty of the...
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Friday prayer at Prophet’s Mosque
The faithful offer Friday prayer in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Madinah.
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First UN f light since Sudan civil war began lands in Khartoum
“It’s a big deal for the humanitarian community,” said Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, who was on board the flight from Port Sudan. Khartoum, which was overrun by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces early in the conflict,...
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Iran close to deal with China to buy supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles
Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, as the US deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes. The CM-302 missiles have a range of about 290 km and are designed to evade...
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Crown prince hosts Egyptian leader in Jeddah
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for iftar in Jeddah on Monday. The president arrived earlier in the day and was welcomed by the crown prince at King Abdulaziz International Airport.
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Arab, Muslim states unite against Israeli land claim
An uproar continued on Sunday after the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said Israel has a right to much of the Middle East, as more Arab and Muslim countries objected and the US said his comments were taken out of context. A spokesperson for...
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Lebanon condemns Israeli attack
Ten people were killed and 50 wounded in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, after the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah and Hamas sites in the Baalbek area. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strikes on the...
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Draft nuclear deal will be ‘ready in days,’ Iran says
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the world’s biggest warship, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean on its way to the region. After talks this year in Oman and Geneva, Iran and the US agreed to submit drafts of...
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Paramilitary seizure of city in Sudan ‘looks like genocide,’ UN probe finds
The siege and capture of El-Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces bore “the hallmarks of genocide,” the UN’s independent fact-finding mission on Sudan said on Thursday. Its investigation concluded that the paramilitaries’ seizure of the city...
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Keeping ‘Musaharati’ tradition alive
Ibrahim Al-Karnawi distributes Ramadan lanterns among displaced Palestinian children living in tents in Gaza’s Nuseirat Refugee Camp, and keeps the Musaharati tradition alive by waking people up for the pre-dawn sahoor meal.
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Crescent moon heralds a month of fasting, prayer and spiritual reflection
The crescent moon signaling the start of Ramadan was sighted in the Kingdom on Tuesday. For Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the first day of Ramadan will therefore be on Wednesday, the Royal Court said. Many Muslim-majority countries around the world follow...
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Welcoming the holy month
A shopper inspects lanterns for sale at a market in the Abbasiyya district of central Cairo on Monday as preparations were underway for the holy month of Ramadan, expected to start on Wednesday.
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Forever Young gallops to glory at Saudi Cup
Japanese superstar Forever Young created history at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on Saturday when he became the first dual winner of the world’s most valuable horse race, the $20 million Saudi Cup. Forever Young enjoyed a dream trip under...
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Saudi skier shines at Winter Olympics
Saudi skier Rakan Alireza, far right, and Samer Tawk of Lebanon, second left, celebrate on Friday with teammates Allan Corona of Mexico and South Africa’s Matthew Smith after crossing the finish line of the men’s 10 km cross-country event at the Winter...
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Sudan denies shipping weapons through war zone disguised as aid
Sudan’s defense minister on Thursday denied that a convoy attacked in North Kordofan last week was secretly transporting weapons to the Sudanese army under the cover of humanitarian aid. Gen. Hassan Kabroun’s denial followed claims that a document...
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Israel razes Palestinian building in West Bank
A man carries a Palestinian affected by tear gas used by Israeli forces during the demolition on Wednesday of a residential building in the village of Beit Awa, southwest of the occupied West Bank.
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