A high-speed railway linking Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest cities, is inaugurated in Saudi Arabia, described by local officials as the biggest transportation project in the region. To read more, click here. 

A UAE Cabinet decision announced on Sunday granting long-term visas for expatriate retirees is seen as a major social stabilizer and economic booster, attracting more people with advanced skills and enhancing the UAE’s ability to build a knowledge-based economy, experts said. To read more, click here.  

British holidaymakers are flocking back to destinations that until recently were feared by many to be at risk of unrest or terrorism. The big winners are Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt, although the two Arab countries have yet to recover their full potential, according to the latest findings from ForwardKeys and […]

The Saudi government is pushing forward with an ambitious and expensive drive to develop its domestic tourism and entertainment sector, with potentially major consequences for the shape of Saudi society and its economy. To read more, click here. 

Uber is “deliberately investing” in products like Uber Eats and Pool as well as “high-potential” markets in the Middle East and India even as the cab hailing app saw its losses widening year on year in the June 2018 quarter. To read more, click here. 

Six months ago Serkan Ucar arrived in Doha to scope out business opportunities – away from his usual patch. The mission looks set to pay off handsomely, as the Turkish entrepreneur expects to win a first contract to help build an iconic 2022 World Cup stadium. To read more, click […]

Zayn Malik has melted a million hearts in one fell swoop by announcing that he has recorded a song completely in Hindi. The Bradford-born singer spoke about his future music plans, explaining he has recorded a song for a Bollywood film, ‘It’s one of the first songs I’ve sung in full […]

  Visitors to Dubai now have an unusual vantage point from which to take in the emirate’s ever expanding skyline.   The Dubai Frame, a 150-meter-tall and 93-meter-wide hollow, gold-plated observation tower, officially opened in the city’s Zabeel Park earlier this month. Believed to be the world’s largest picture frame, its […]

It is a pity that the French minister of culture, Françoise Nyssen, was unable to make it to the Louvre Museum’s auditorium on Friday morning, because her speech contained a genuinely memorable quote. To read more, click here. 

Morocco’s medieval cultural capital is coming out of Marrakech’s shadow, with thousands of old buildings, including probably the world’s oldest library, being reopened – and new direct flights making it easier to get there Fez, Morocco’s cultural and spiritual capital, may have lagged behind Marrakech when it comes to stylish […]