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Controversy has erupted in Belgium after it emerged that some Belgian mosques were refusing to join public prayers for non-Muslim victims of the recent terror attacks in the capital Brussels. A report by the United Arab Emirates TV station Al-Ghad Al-Arabi explained that the Council of Belgian Imams rejected the prayer initiative, saying that praying for the souls of non-Muslims runs counter to Islamic law (Sharia). During the report, which aired March 26 and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Sheikh Abdelhadi Sewif, Chief Imam of the Great Mosque of Brussels, suggested Muslims might be able...

Exchanged views on regional issues His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, today discussed with President of Russia Vladimir Putin ties of friendship and co-operation between the two countries. They also tackled overall regional and international issues of mutual interest. This followed discussions, as the Russian President received Sheikh Mohamed and his accompanying delegation at the Kremlin. Putin welcomed Sheikh Mohamed, expressing his happiness at again meeting with him to discuss bilateral relations and Middle East issues. At their meeting, the Russian President said,...

Remains of oldest inhabitant of Abu Dhabi found (By a staff reporter) 30 June 2004 ABU DHABI - Remains of the earliest-known inhabitant of Abu Dhabi have been found on the western island of Marawah by the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS, as part of their spring excavation season, it was announced on Tuesday. Marawah is part of the Marawah Marine Protected Area, MPA, which is managed by Abu Dhabi's Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA). The excavations were carried out at the site of a 7,000 year old village which has the best-preserved and most-sophisticated stone buildings...

The skeleton of one of Abu Dhabi’s earliest inhabitants has been uncovered on Marawah Island in what historians believe was a “house for the dead”. An archaeological dig on the Western Region island, about 100 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi city, has also revealed the first use of stone-built architecture in the Arabian Gulf, dating back 7,500 years, the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) said on Thursday. “This partial skeleton was inserted into one of the already semi-collapsed rooms of the house, indicating that the structure had originally been used as a house for the living, and then...

World monuments in solidarity with victimsBurj Khalifa lit up in the colours of the Belgium flag on Tuesday night. Burj Khalifa in colours of Belgium flag in solidarity with victims of Brussels attacks, tweeted Dubai Media Office. The UAE has condemned the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday, which claimed the lives of innocent civilians and left many people injured.

A passenger jet has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with at least 55 people on board, officials say. The FlyDubai Boeing 738, coming from Dubai, overshot the runway as it attempted to land and burst into flames, according to reports.

CAIRO — The Arab League labelled Shiite Muslim Hizbollah a terrorist organisation on Friday, Egyptian state media said, as tensions rise between Sunni and Shiite powers across the Middle East. Sectarian wars are raging in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and the League has become a forum for the mostly Sunni Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, to air their grievances with Shiite power Iran, the major backer of Hizbollah and other Shiite groups in the region. "The Arab League foreign minister's committee has decided on Friday to consider Hizbollah a terrorist organisation," said a statement from the Arab League carried...

An Emirati fighter jet suffered a "technical malfunction" and crashed Monday while taking part in the Saudi-led war against Shiite rebels in Yemen, killing the plane's two pilots, authorities said. Bystanders apparently found the remains of the Mirage fighter near Yemen's port city of Aden, while amateur video and photos posted on a local news website showed onlookers rifling through the debris and standing on a piece of the plane's distinctive triangle-shaped wing. The United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency earlier announced the "loss of a fighter aircraft." It did not immediately report the pilots' deaths. The state-run Saudi...

BEIRUT -- A Saudi-dominated political bloc on Wednesday formally designated Lebanon's Hezbollah militia a terrorist organization, a move that signals dangerously escalating tensions between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Gulf Cooperation Council's decision against the Iranian-allied group comes two weeks after Saudi Arabia canceled $4 billion aid package for strengthening Lebanese security services. Saudi Arabia and other GCC member states have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. An announcement posted on the GCC website accused Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite Muslim movement, of unspecified hostile acts in the six states in the bloc: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,...

Confesses to intentionally spreading AIDS A 19-year-old girl infected with AIDS told police that she had slept with many men in Abu Dhabi although she knew that she was suffering from the killer disease. Police arrested the girl with two men at an apartment in the capital and medical tests showed she was suffering from the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). She admitted that she was infected with the HIV virus following a relationship with a man carrying the virus. 'She confessed that she was intentionally spreading AIDS among men because she wanted to destroy them after she was infected...

Can a government regulate happiness? That's the question being asked now by many in the United Arab Emirates, after the government announced that it would be creating a "minister of state for happiness" on Monday -- a move that is part of a broader shake-up of the Gulf states' leadership that also saw the creation of a minister of state for tolerance and a number of young politicians appointed. On Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, said that the happiness minister position would "align and drive government policy to create social good and satisfaction." Judging from...

Emirati captain, boat crew escape attack An Emirati captain and his boat crew survived a shark attack off the coast of Fujairah, Al Bayan reports. According to the report, the shark weighed two tonnes and was approximately four metres in length. The Emirati, identified as Hamza Hamid Al Shara, said he and his crew were in shock when the shark jumped into the boat. “Fortunately, the shark hit a barrier and fell in the middle. “We managed to catch it and one of our crew members got injured in the bargain,” he said. Mahmoud Hamid Al Shara, head of...

According to unconfirmed reports, the FBI is now investigating the possibility that donors were directed to the Clinton Foundation in return for favors from the State Department when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. This would be in addition to the ongoing investigation into Hillary's use of a private email account for official business. We hope the FBI is reviewing the circumstances described below that we uncovered and have already made public: New York University (NYU) and the United Arab Emirates UAE)- We documented that Cheryl Mills, Hillary's longtime aide and confidant, worked as State Department chief of staff...

A stunning new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that one of the United States Navy’s top commanders was relieved of his command a few hours ago after he sent out an “email/posting” revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates city (UAE) of Dubai. According to this report, the Commander of the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 15, Rear Admiral Rick Williams, posted a “pointed” query on 8 January [since deleted] to the US Naval Institute’s “Readiness Kill Chain” “recipients/responders”...

Bronze ore smelting workshops, burial grounds, clay homes, stone tools and anvils are among the items unearthed last year in archaeological digs. Several excavations at sites across Sharjah, including in Mleiha, Al Faya, Wadi Al Hilo, Tell Abraq and Dibba Al Hisn, revealed a wealth of discoveries dating from half a million years ago. In Mleiha, in the central region of the emirate, a Belgian team from Ghent University found remains of homes made of clay containing pottery, as well as burial grounds... Carbon testing showed the finds dated back between 8,000BC and the Islamic era, the authority said, though...

By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann January 06, 2016 One thing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have in common -- they both like to have big things named after them. The latest batch of emails released by the State Department uncovers a massive ego trip by the former secretary of state. Anxious to etch her name in glass, as well as in history, she and her closest aides raised $37 million from corporations and foreign governments to build a U.S. Diplomacy Center to be named after Clinton. In a Feb. 1, 2013 email -- the last days of Clinton's tenure...

Iran reveals true face by defending terror acts: KSA Published -- Sunday 3 January 2016 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Tehran revealed its true face "by its defense of terrorist acts" after Iran criticized the Kingdom's execution of a Shiite cleric convicted of terrorism charges. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the ministry accused Tehran of "blind sectarianism" and said Iran's reaction only shows that it is a "partner in their crimes in the entire region." The ministry summoned Iran's ambassador to the kingdom to protest Iran's criticism of the execution, saying it...

Saudi Arabia stews in policy hell: Spengler By David P. Goldman on January 3, 2016 in David P. Goldman, Spengler, China, Middle East, AT Top Writers Last week's mass executions in Saudi Arabia suggest panic at the highest level of the monarchy. The action is without precedent, even by the grim standards of Saudi repression. In 1980 Riyadh killed 63 jihadists who had attacked the Grand Mosque of Mecca, but that was fresh after the event. Most of the 47 prisoners shot and beheaded on Jan. 2 had sat in Saudi jails for a decade. The decision to kill the...

Saudi Arabia has announced that it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran following Saturday's attack of its embassy in Tehran during protests. Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, made the announcement on Sunday as the foreign ministry announced that it would ask the Iranian diplomatic mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. The Saudi foreign ministry has also announced that the staff of its diplomatic mission have been evacuated, and are now on their way back to Saudi.

BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protestors in response. Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow...