BANGKOK: A Philippines woman who fled Saudi Arabia and is currently receiving therapy after experiencing sexual abuse at the hands of her sponsor for 8 months recently sat down with Bikyanews.com to talk about the situation she faced and what other domestic workers from Southeast Asia can do in order to see abuse before it happens. T, who asked not to be named, said her experience is "similar" to other wome ...

DUBAI: Optimism is still bounding in Kuwait after the Institute of International Finance (IIF) revised down its economic growth outlook for the UAE to 3.6 percent for 2013, from a previous forecast of 4.8 percent. In 2013, the IIF also predicted that the whole GCC economic growth will stand at 3.8 percent from the 5.8 percent it predicted in 2012. It also expected that the GCC will retain financial balance ...

DUBAI: Dubai traffic police are seeing an increase in the number of Saudi women seeking to obtain drivers' licenses in the city and other cities within the United Arab Emirates. Dubai Chief of Police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan said police are receiving driving-license applications from Saudi women wanting to drive in Dubai and other cities, although he noted the number of requests are not particularly high. He ...

NEW DELHI: A day after Chitrangada Singh slammed reports that she and her golfer husband Jyoti Randhawa were looking to to divorce, media were ablaze with questions after she has pulled out of a local fashion show in Dubai. The Desi Boyz star was set to be the showstopper for Indian designer Archana Kocchar on May 27 at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm. “Due to family issues, Chitrangada has pulled out of the eve ...

DUBAI: Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a global provider of unified IP business communications software and services, today announced further penetration into the Middle East market with the signing of a partnership agreement with FutureTech, a Kuwait based provider of  intelligent IT infrastructure and IT outsourcing solutions. FutureTech will promote and distribute Interactive Intelligence’s entire r ...

DUBAI: Kuwait women are hopeful that as they are being allowed to work as paramedics in the country the overall status of women in the small Gulf country will improve. Kuwait saw its first female unit graduate on Saturday. "This is a momentous day for all Kuwaitis, women and men, because it shows that we can improve as a country," 21-year-old university student Isra told Bikyanews.com. She hopes to follow i ...

DUBAI: A couple who were caught by Dubai police having sex in the backseat of a taxi in the city are to be jailed for two months for violating the city's "illicit sex" law. Dubai’s highest court overruled on Monday the appeal lodged by R.B., a 29-year-old Briton, and 28-year-old Irishman, C.M. The Dubai Cassation Court found the duo guilty of drinking alcohol, public nudity and committing an indecent act in ...

CAIRO: Egyptian Finance Minister Fayyad Abdel Moneim said on Sunday that Egypt expects to receive additional aid from Qatar worth three billion dollars. The Finance Minister confirmed the additional aid to Aswat Masriya but declined to give further information, saying that the details can be acquired from the Central Bank. The Qatari government has pledged three billion dollars in additional assistance to t ...

DUBAI: SynergY is the promising name that is bringing together many like-minded students from across the UAE who are aspiring and planning to move forward in days to come, to shape the green initiative in the UAE. ‘55 Trees planted’ is the project we initiated that called on people to unite and become ‘Earth-keepers’. The World Wide Auctioneers’ (WWA) Middle East Auction Centre, which is a 100,000 square me ...

DUBAI: In an exclusive interview with Australian media, Alicia Gali talked about being drugged, gang-raped and then imprisoned in Dubai for "illicit sex" in an incident that left many women in the Emirates angered and frustrated over the government's continued lack of deliverance of justice toward women in the country. "This case, I remember it like yesterday and how angry I was," Nouran Shawkat, a 31-year- ...