13-03-2023 ISTANBUL: The crack in Mesut Muttaliboglu’s bedroom wall is so wide, he can fit a car key into it. He turns it sideways, and with a flick of his wrist, a large chunk of plaster flies off the wall and crashes to the ground. It’s why he and his …

13-03-2023 RIYADH: Saudi oil giant Aramco has announced a record profit of $161.1bn (£134bn) for 2022, helped by soaring energy prices and bigger volumes. It represents a 46.5% rise for the state-owned company, compared with last year. It is the latest energy firm to report record profits, after energy prices …

13-03-2023 GENEVA/ DAMASCUS: Representatives of Yemen’s government and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels began talks in Geneva on Saturday aimed at implementing a deal on an exchange of prisoners, the United Nations said. The deal, which brought Yemen’s warring sides, the internationally recognized government and the Houthis to Switzerland is being …

13-03-2023 BEIJING: Xi Jinping has kept the country’s central bank governor Yi Gang in his post and retained his finance and commerce ministers, as the Chinese president defied expectations of a large-scale overhaul of his cabinet at this year’s annual parliamentary meeting. The reappointments, which analysts said would reassure markets …

13-03-2023 WASHINGTON: Former US Vice President Mike Pence offered his most forceful rebuke to date of his one-time boss Donald Trump on Saturday, saying that history will hold him accountable for his role in January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Pence was in the Capitol when thousands of …

Mosque loudspeakers will be banned during Ramadan Riyad;Mar 12;2023-Loudspeaker ban in mosques in Saudi Arabia: Ramzan starts from March 22. Muslims all over the world are celebrating this festival very critically. During this, the voice of Azan will be heard from the mosques but now it will not happen in Saudi …

12-03-2023 Bureau Report + BBC WILSHIRE BOULEVARD HILLS, CALIFORNIA/ NEW DELHI: All eyes in India will be on the Oscars ceremony as Naatu Naatu vies to win Best Original Song at the prestigious award show. A track from Telugu blockbuster RRR, short for Rise Roar Revolt, Naatu Naatu is the …

12-03-2023 RIYADH/ TEHRAN/ BEIJING: Middle East regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations, seven years after severing them in a bitter row. The unexpected announcement came after four days of talks between officials from both sides in China. Saudi Arabia cut ties in January 2016 …

12-03-2023 LOS ANGELES: Torrential rain has brought flash flooding and landslides to California, closing roads, felling trees and raising avalanche fears, in the latest winter storm to hammer the state. President Joe Biden offered emergency federal assistance over the atmospheric surge, known as a “Pineapple Express”. The National Weather Service …

12-03-2023 JERUSALEM: Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken part in what some are calling the biggest protest in the country’s history. Protests against government plans for a radical overhaul of the judicial system have been running for 10 weeks. Record numbers of demonstrators turned out in cities such as …