Arab world

    Saudi Arabia said its forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired Saturday by rebels in from Yemen toward one of the kingdom's major international airports on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh. The missile fire drew an immediate rebuke from President Donald Trump, who blamed Iran in part for the attack. The missile was fired across Saudi Arabia's southern border by Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels, according to several Houthi-owned media outlets, including Al-Masirah and SABA. The rebels are at war with the kingdom. Saudi Arabia said the missile was shot down by its air defense forces, with fragments of the missile landing in an uninhabited area north of the capital. Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority said the missile did not cause any damage to King Khalid Internatio...

    Employment visas issued for private sector companies in Saudi Arabia will now be valid for only one year, reports the Khaleej Times. According to Minister of Labour and Social Development Dr. Ali Al Ghafis, this rule will not be applicable for visas issued to government servants as well as domestic workers. The decision was taken on the basis of Article 11 of the Labor Law under which the minister can take the procedures that are deemed necessary for improving the efficiency of the employment market, Saudi Gazette reported. Earlier this week, the minister issued another order allowing foreign mothers of Saudis as well as non-Saudi children of Saudi women to work in those professions which are restricted only to Saudi nationals.

    Dubai Police, already home to Lamborghini patrol cars, self-driving robots and android officers, has decided to take to the skies in what can only be described as a flying motorbike. The vehicle, called the Scorpion and designed by Russian tech company Hoversurf, relies on four propellers to stay airborne, with the rider crouched precariously close to the exposed blades. Capable of 40 mph and a travel time of 25 minutes, the single-seat craft, which can carry 600 lbs, can also operate autonomously. After appearing at tech shows earlier this year, Dubai Police has decided to add one to its list of cutting-edge gadgets, all part of the force's "smart city" plans.According to the Facebook page of Hoversurf CEO Alexander Atamanov, the company has signed a memorandum of underst...

    A British man facing a three-year jail sentence in Dubai for putting his hand on a man in a bar so he did not bump and spill drinks has been sentenced to a month in prison on a separate charge. Jamie Harron, 27, has been convicted of public indecency as he awaits the verdict on the other charge against him, according to reports. A spokesman for the prosecution service in Dubai said: On the drinking charge, he has been sentenced to a month in jail, fined 2,000 dirhams (£412) and will be deported. His next appearance on the public indecency case is on October 22. The electrician, from Scotland, had been told to remain in the city for future court hearings. The UK Foreign Office’s advice for drinking in Dubai states: Non-Muslim residents can get a liquor licence to drink alco...

    A woman drove towards the United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia border before her arrest in 2014. Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, overturning a long-standing policy that has become a global symbol of the repression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom. The change, which will not happen immediately, was announced on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington. It highlights the damage that the policy has done to the kingdom’s international reputation and its hopes for a public relations benefit from the reform. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, is a Muslim monarchy ruled according to Shariah law. Saudi officials and clerics have provided numerous explanations for the ban over the years. Some said that it was inap...

    Saudi Arabia King Salman has ordered the payment of $15 million aid for the Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar as a result of genocide and torture. The announcement came in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following a meeting of the Saudi Cabinet, which was briefed by Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, general supervisor of Riyadh-based King Salman Centre for Relief and Humanitarian Aid on the situation in Myanmar with the Muslim minority Rohingya refugees that have been forced to flee, reports arabnews.com. The Saudi Cabinet renewed the Kingdom’s calls on the international community to take urgent action to stop the attacks and to allow the Myanmar Muslim minority their basic human rights. Rohingya Muslims have lived in Myanmar for generations, but have ...

    Israel and the US inaugurated the first American military base on Israeli soil on Monday, which will serve dozens of soldiers operating a missile defence system. The move comes at a time of growing Israeli concerns about archenemy Iran’s development of long-range missiles. Together with the US, Israel has developed a multilayered system of defenses against everything from long-range guided missile attacks from Iran to crude rockets fired from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, reports the Associated Press. The base’s opening is largely symbolic and isn’t expected to bring operational changes. But the Israeli military says that along with other measures, it sends a message of readiness to Israel’s enemies. It’s a message that says Israel is better prepared. It’s a message that say...

    Al Qaeda militants have called for support for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, who are facing a security crackdown that has sent about 400,000 of them fleeing to Bangladesh, warning that Myanmar would face ‘punishment’ for its crimes. The exodus of Muslim refugees from Buddhist-majority Myanmar was sparked by a fierce security force response to a series of Rohingya militant attacks on police and army posts in the country’s west on Aug. 25. The Islamist group behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Untied States issued a statement urging Muslims around the world to support their fellow Muslims in Myanmar with aid, weapons and military support. The savage treatment meted out to our Muslim brothers ... shall not pass without punishment, al Qaeda said in a statement, according t...

    New imagery released by imageSat which operates Israel’s EROS-B satellite, reportedly show the first ever Scud missile factory being built inside wartorn Syria. The pictures from a site near Latakia on the Syrian-government controlled coastline resembles a missile plant in Tehran, Israeli media reports said on Tuesday. Experts told Channel 2 the sophisticated construction could not have been undertaken without Iranian experts operating inside Syria. They believe the facility, on which work began at some point last year, has both production and underground storage capabilities of long-range missiles which are capable of striking Israel. They believe it will be completed by the end of 2017. Donald Trump says Iran has helped commit unspeakable crimes in Syria Israel's main wo...

    A 19-year old woman has been jailed by the Israeli authorities for refusing to be conscripted into the Israel Defence Force. Noa Gur Golan is currently being held in a military prison near Haifa, having been detained for more than 30 days. She is being held in a room with nine other women and is only allowed to see her family once every two weeks. Israel expects all Jewish, Druze and Circassian Israeli over the age of 18 to do their military service, with women being conscripted for two years and men two years and eight months. Ms Golan's brothers, aged 29 and 24, have completed their service with the Israeli Defence Force. She had sought to avoid military service on the grounds of her being a pacifist, but her plea has been rejected in the two hearings she has had so far,...