Yahoo chooses Riyadh, Air Arabia starts flying to Kabul

Yahoo Maktoob has chosen Riyadh to launch its home page in Arabic for the first time. It is expected to be launched by next Thursday.

Technology experts believe that the success of Maktoob, which encouraged Yahoo to buy it last year, could lead Google and Microsoft to investing more in Arabic content as well.

Low cost carrier Air Arabia will start flights to Kabul, Afghanistan from December 16, the airline said on Sunday. The route, which will operate four times a week, is the airline’s 66th route across three hubs. Kabul is said to be the first among several future destinations in Afghanistan.

Last week the Sharjah-based airline posted a 5.6 percent decline in net profit for the third quarter, beating analysts’ forecast, reporting a net profit of AED136m ($37.03m) for the three months to September 30, 2010, down from AED144m for the same period a year earlier.