A heightened state of terrorist alert. Bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. A lengthening list of casualties. Clearly, al Qaeda is alive and kicking. The United States has eliminated many of its senior leaders, arrested 3,000 operatives in more than 100 countries, and closed 50 training camps in Afghanistan. Yet its specter remains. Why? Because, like a dangerous virus that becomes immune to a vaccine, al Qaeda is adapting to its post-Afghanistan environment. In many ways,...
The number of civil servants fell by 11,000 in the year to March, the Office for National Statistics said. However, the total number employed by the public sector rose by 72,000 to 5.8 million. Over the past five years, public sector jobs have risen by 10.3 per cent, while the private sector has seen a rise of 2.9 per cent to 22.7 million.Six leading Arab economies, including Saudi Arabia, may reconsider pegging their currencies to the dollar, under their plans for a...
SIX leading Arab economies, including Saudi Arabia, may reconsider pegging their currencies to the dollar, under their plans for a "euro-style" Arab single currency in the region.Muhammad Al-Jasser, Vice-Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the country's central bank, told The Times that the six oil-exporting nations Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates -could link the proposed single currency to the euro, or...