A visit visa can be converted into a permanent residency permit for a close family member of an expatriate worker under special conditions, a senior Passport Department official said during a phone-in service with Arab News readers on Wednesday....

(Reuters) - Bahrain released one of the Arab world's best-known activists on Saturday after he served a two-year jail sentence for his role in protests calling for democracy in the U.S.-allied kingdom. Nabeel Rajab, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was found...

Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced a joint committee to confront "regional challenges", in a statement published on official Emirati news agency WAM. The move came as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met UAE Crown Prince...

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah will travel to Iran on May 31 amid a recent thaw in Tehran's relations with Gulf states, the Iranian foreign ministry said Tuesday. Relations between Iran and the Gulf states have been frosty for years, with disagreements over the...