Saudi banks back to 'normal business' this year: cbank
RIYADH: Saudi banks will resume "normal business" this year after difficult conditions following the global downturn forced local lenders to increase provisions in 2009, the central bank governor said on…
IIF expects 4.4 percent Gulf economic growth in 2010
DUBAI: Growth in the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states is expected to rise to 4.4 percent in 2010 and 4.7 percent in 2011, the Institute of International Finance (IFF) said…
Too soon for OPEC to act on prices: Libya
TRIPOLI: OPEC members will watch the market before deciding on any action over the drop in oil prices, Libya's top energy official told Reuters. Shokri Ghanem, the head of Libya's…
Iran awaits swift response to nuclear swap deal
TEHRAN: Iran said on Tuesday it expects a swift response from world powers on an accord to ship much of its low enriched uranium to Turkey, as UN Security Council…
Jihadist tourism in south Lebanon's 'Hezbollahland'
MAROUN EL-RASS: Ten years after Israel pulled out, south Lebanon is solidly controlled by Hezbollah which is even organizing "jihadist tours" along one of the most tense borders in the…
Palestinians go door-to-door to combat settlement goods
RAMALLAH: The Palestinians on Tuesday stepped up their fight against goods produced in Israeli settlements with a door-to-door campaign to raise awareness of a territory-wide ban. "This house-to-house campaign is…
Saudis free two German girls kidnapped in Yemen: ministry
RIYADH: Saudi security forces have freed two German girls kidnapped with their brother and parents in Yemen last year in an apparent cross-border military operation, the interior ministry said Tuesday.…
France releases Iranian assassin amid deal controversy
PARIS: A French court on Tuesday freed an Iranian agent jailed for the murder of an exiled prime minister as controversy raged over whether the decision was tied to Iran's…
Yemen court sentences six Somali pirates to death
SANAA: A Yemeni court Tuesday sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for 10 years each for hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker and killing two cabin crew…
Rescuers race to reach trapped Turkish miners
ANKARA: Hundreds of rescuers on Tuesday raced to dig out 30 miners trapped underground after a powerful gas explosion triggered a cave-in at a coal mine in northern Turkey. Rescuers…