DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s labour ministry has suspended visas for foreign salesmen at all lingerie and cosmetics shops to pressurise business owners to employ Saudi women in these stores. Fahd Al-Takhifi, assistant undersecretary for development at the ministry of labour, said the ministry will continue to allow these companies to employ males in other positions. According to the report, business... 

A Syria bound Saudi Arabian shipment of military equipment intended for Syrian armed gangs is on its way to Jordan, AFP reported.  Read More »

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia says it has closed its embassy in Damascus and pulled out its diplomats and staff as Syrian President Bashar Assad steps up attacks against the opposition. The kingdom has become one of the leading Arab supporters of the Syrian rebels and has appealed for international efforts to study ways to provide aid and weapons to anti-Assad forces. The embassy closure was announced late... 

GAZA: Israel and militant factions in the Gaza Strip have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered truce to end four days of cross-border violence in which 25 Palestinians have been killed, a senior Egyptian security official told Reuters on Tuesday. The official said in a telephone call from Cairo that both sides had “agreed to end the current operations”, with Israel giving an unusual undertaking... 

Thousands of people have staged demonstrations in Libya’s capital Tripoli and the large eastern city of Benghazi to protest against autonomy-seeking initiatives in the country’s eastern state of Barqa. Chanting slogans and waving Libyan flags in Benghazi on Friday, the protesters called on the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) to counter the recent drives to separate certain states from...