News – Middle East

NEOM — NEOM has announced that neighborhood planning and design for the first phase of THE LINE will commence in early 2025, marking a new stage in the development of this innovative linear city. To realize its ambitious goals, NEOM has appointed a team of world-leading partners, including Delugan Meissl …

Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman reaffirmed his country’s absolute rejection of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza and Lebanon. Inaugurating the Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh on Monday, he also called on the international community to compel Israel to respect the sovereignty …

Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan emphasized that Saudi Arabia will enhance the use of technology to achieve spending efficiency. “Spending efficiency does not mean reducing the spending, but rather exploiting resources and redirecting them to achieve a higher impact,” he said while addressing the Riyadh …

The Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit is being held on Monday in Riyadh under exceptionally dangerous circumstances, with a horrific humanitarian tragedy devastating the besieged Gaza Strip. The war waged by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip has entered its 14th consecutive month, with the number …

KYIV — At least six people have been killed and 21 others injured in Ukraine following the latest series of air strikes by Russia. Five of the deaths happened in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia, according to the authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky …

SINGAPORE — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has won a run-off vote in parliament to stay in his post, after an election setback last month that saw his coalition lose its majority in the lower house. Ishiba, 67, took over as prime minister from Fumio Kishida, who stepped down in …

SYDNEY — Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pulled his new children’s book from the shelves after complaints that it stereotyped Indigenous Australians. The 400-page fantasy novel Billy and the Epic Escape, which was published earlier this year, features an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers living in foster care who is …

BERLIN — Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he is willing to hold a confidence vote in parliament before Christmas after the ruling three-party coalition collapsed under a week ago. In an interview on Sunday night with public broadcaster ARD, Scholz said, “I am not glued to my post.” “Think …

WASHINGTON — Much of the federal workforce is on edge and bracing itself for the likelihood its ranks will be purged when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump, who has derided civil servants as agents of the “deep state,” promised on the campaign trail to reinstate a 2020 executive order …

BAKU — The Taliban will attend a UN climate conference for the first time since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the environment agency said on Sunday. The conference, known as COP29, begins on Monday in Azerbaijan and is one of the most important multilateral talks to include the Taliban, …