Residential rents in Jeddah have increased by an average of 14 percent so far this year, real estate consultants Jones Lang LaSalle said on Sunday. Its Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview for Q3 2011 said the city’s residential sector had seen an “robust upward trend” between July and September. Soraka Al-Khatib, co-head of Jones Lang [...]

The inaugural Solar Arabia Summit, which aims to highlight possible challenges and examine the benefits of solar energy in the region, will take place in Riyadh on October 23 and 24. The initiative is co-organised by French business information group naseba and King Saud University in Riyadh. Both the Ministry of Water and Electricity, and [...]

(Reuters) – Long before it understood the value of oil, the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia knew the worth of water. But the leading oil exporter’s water challenges are growing as energy-intensive desalination erodes oil revenues while peak water looms more ominously than peak oil — the theory that supplies are at or near their limit, with [...]

Plans to introduce a value-added tax for Gulf Arab oil exporters remain at a technical stage with the timing of the long-considered project still undecided though 2012-2015 have been tentatively discussed as potential launch dates, officials said. Six Gulf Arab crude producers have been mulling the joint VAT plan over the past five years, aiming [...]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Los Angeles County Museum of Art(LACMA) recently acquired work from two contemporary Saudi artists, Ahmed Mater andAbdulnasser Gharem, which will be featured in its permanent collection on Middle Eastern and Islamic art. “This acquisition provides people with an opportunity to learn more about Saudi art,” said Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel bin [...]

Migrant workers mulling a move to the GCC would choose to live in Saudi Arabia over neighboring Gulf state the UAE, a report published Wednesday said. A report by Abu Dhabi Gallup said 52 percent of foreign workers hoping to live in the Gulf would choose to live in Saudi Arabia, compared to 35 percent [...]

Fake versions of the new BlackBerry handsets are already circulating in the UAE, despite the phones only being unveiled last week. According to the Blackberry-focused site Crackberry.com, fakes of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 have been spotted on sale in Dubai’s DragonMart. The fakes were priced at $100. In June, Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (DED) inspectors fined 113 [...]

Saudi security forces killed a gunman on Saturday morning after he fired at a checkpoint near the Interior Minister’s palace in Jeddah, the state news agency said. Police said they were unable to confirm whether the incident was terror related. “At 1am on Saturday, a person carrying a gun fired at a checkpoint in Abdulrahman [...]

Aspiring Arab singers will have a shot at stardom and the chance of winning a record deal as Dubai TV channel MBC gears up to brings the popular Idol TV franchise to the Middle East. The broadcaster has called for would-be idols to sign up for auditions that will begin after Ramadan in cities including [...]

Riyadh July 24, 2011: To celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, Yahoo! Maktoob has created the ultimate Ramadan site, designed as a one stop destination that provides access to a host of rich spiritual, lifestyle, and entertainment content. The dedicated site (maktoob.ramadan.yahoo.com) brings together premium content relevant to Ramadan, pulled from multiple leading Yahoo! Maktoob [...]