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Saudi firms that run into financial trouble because of the coronavirus epidemic will be allowed to cut workers' wages by 40% – and then sack them after six months – under a decision approved by the kingdom's ministry of human resources.
In legal terms, it means companies can break existing… Read more
At the end of March, President Sisi hailed Egypt's efforts to combat the coronavirus epidemic as "good and reassuring". Amid such confidence, his regime even made a show of sending medical aid to worse-hit countries such as Italy and the United States.
Now, little more than a month later, the… Read more
Ten Covid-19 cases have now been confirmed in war-torn Yemen where health services face an increasingly desperate situation. Aside from coronavirus, they are already struggling with at least two other plagues – dengue fever and chikungunya.
The seat of the Covid-19 outbreak is the southern city… Read more
Sudan's Covid-19 outbreak is still in its early stages but growing fast. Confirmed cases have more than doubled over the last five days and now total 533.
The vast majority of these infections have occurred in and around the capital, Khartoum, where the authorities imposed a three-week lockdown… Read more
Police in Morocco have arrested more than 80,000 people during the last six weeks for violating the coronavirus lockdown, according to official figures from the Direction Générale de la Sûreté Nationale (DGSN). On Wednesday alone, 4,582 were arrested – the highest daily total so far.
Other… Read more
Covid-19 has reappeared in Yemen with the announcement of five new cases in the southern city of Aden. This could scarcely have come at a worse time. Last week the city was declared a disaster area after flash floods swept several people away and caused streets to be bathed in sewage. In the… Read more
Thousands of undocumented migrant workers are awaiting repatriation from Kuwait under a government scheme aimed at countering the spread of Covid-19.
Crowded living conditions make migrant workers especially vulnerable to infection and the effect of the scheme will be to reduce their numbers.… Read more
Worldwide, more than three million people are now known to have been infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus. Among those, slightly less than two million are currently recorded as "active" cases – the numbers are reduced by people recovering or, in some cases, dying.
Changes in the number of active… Read more
In a controversial move to mark the start of Ramadan, the Algerian government has eased restrictions in Blida – the province at the centre of the country's Covid-19 epidemic. A total lockdown of Blida imposed on March 23 has now been reduced to a partial curfew running from 2pm to 7am daily.
This… Read more
Saudi Arabia has announced an easing of its coronavirus restrictions to allow for "the return of some economic activities in line with health instructions".
On the face of it, this could be a risky move because the Covid-19 virus is still spreading more rapidly in the kingdom than among any of its… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
