Arab world

    The Saudi General Department of Traffic (GDT) announced, on Friday that women will be allowed to drive trucks once the required conditions and guidelines have been met; now in force for males only. Saudi women will also be allowed to drive motorcycles as per the royal decree announced in September, which comes into effect in June 2018, reports alarabiya.net. There would be no discrimination against women’s cars with plates and special numbers, the vehicles will be subjected to the same rules currently stated in the seventh article of the traffic law system. On September 26, 2017, Saudi King Salman ordered the issuance of driver’s licenses for women in Saudi Arabia. A royal decree was issued to apply the traffic regulations including the issuance of driving licenses for bot...

    Saudi Arabia plans to raise petrol and jet fuel prices in January in an effort to reduce energy subsidies and bolster state finances, according to a report by Bloomberg. Petrol prices are set to jump by about 80% while jet fuel prices will be raised to international levels, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. Other fuel types and electricity tariffs are also expected to rise in price over the coming years. Fuel prices, excluding jet fuel, are not expected to rise to international levels until 2023 at the earliest. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans to reform the economy, fuel subsidies are eventually to be totally eliminated. Saudi Arabia's Finance Ministry did not immediately respond for a request for comment. The price hikes are part of the ...

    Saudi Arabia has expressed hope the United States would not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and warned such a decision would have serious implications, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday. The recognition will have very serious implications and will be provocative to all Muslims’ feelings, SPA said quoting an unnamed official source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The United States administration should take into account the negative implications of such a move and the Kingdom’s hope not to take such a decision as this will affect the US ability to continue its attempt of reaching a just solution for the Palestinian cause, the statement added. On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador in Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman said any US announcement on the statu...

    A former Bosnian Croat politician who downed poison at a war crimes hearing has died, according to Croatian state TV. Slobodan Praljak produced a small vial of liquid which he gulped down in front of the court after a judge upheld a 20-year-jail sentence he had been given. After learning the verdict the 72-year-old drank from the small bottle and yelled I am not a war criminal, I oppose this conviction. Croatian former general Slobodan Praljak stands prior to the start of his appeal judgement at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His lawyer, Natasa Faveau-Ivanovic, later said: My client says he drank poison this morning. Croatian TV said Praljak died this afternoon after his appearance at the court in The Hague. Questions will be raised over how...

    Lebanon celebrated its Independence Day recently, and Mia Khalifa did not seem to forget about her Arab roots, tweeting about it. The former porn star took the opportunity to wish her home country a happy Independence Day and expressed her love for Lebanon on Twitter. But her tweet could be considered a bit sad as she doubted that the country loved her back. The moment Mia posted her tweet, the comments just started flowing, reports the Albawaba. Some Lebanese people replied to Mia assuring her that the country’s people love her, even more than our politicians’ one user wrote. Another user sarcastically called her the Queen of Lebanon. Statistics indicate that the country likely does really love Mia Khalifa back, given that her name was the most searched on Google last yea...

    The woman's secret flight from the caliphate took place more than six months ago, aided by a smuggler who helped her sneak across the Syria-Turkey border one spring night. But in spirit, this red-haired exile from the Islamic State never truly left. She covered herself in black from head to toe to greet a recent visitor to the small Moroccan house where she stays and removed her veil only when assured that her guest, also a woman, was alone. Over sips of mint tea, she spoke admiringly of her militant husband and the comrades she met in the Islamic State's all-female brigade. Calling herself Zarah she declined to give her family name because she had traveled to Syria in secret she vowed that her children would someday reclaim the Islamist paradise she believes was stolen fr...

    Saudi Arabia's crown prince vowed to pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance. In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries. with no coordination among national authorities, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister, said in his keynote address to the gathering in Riyadh. This ends today, with this alliance. The summit is the first meeting of defence ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a pan-Islamic unified front against violent extremism. The alliance was announced in 2015 under ...

    Saudi authorities have questioned 208 people in an anti-corruption investigation and estimate at least $100 billion has been stolen through graft, a top official said on Thursday as the inquiry expanded beyond the kingdom’s borders. Based on our investigations over the past three years, we estimate that at least $100 billion has been misused through systematic corruption and embezzlement over several decades,’ Attorney-General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said in a statement. Of the 208 people called in for questioning so far, seven have been released without charge, Sheikh Saud said, without naming them. Dozens of princes, senior officials and prominent businessmen, including cabinet ministers and billionaires, have been detained in the inquiry, which was announced last weekend a...

    Saad al-Hariri, who quit as Lebanese Prime Minister in a weekend broadcast from Saudi Arabia, has been held under house arrest in the kingdom, a pro-Hezbollah daily said on Tuesday citing unnamed sources. Hariri’s office and Saudi-owned media said he flew to the UAE, a Saudi ally and fellow Gulf monarchy, on Tuesday. Aides to Hariri, Lebanon’s most influential Sunni politician and a close Saudi ally, have denied claims that he was detained. Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, which is aligned with the Shi’ite militant group and political movement Hezbollah, said Hariri ‘was placed under house arrest hours after arriving in Riyadh last Friday’ and had remained in detention since. On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir dismissed as ‘nonsense’ allegations that the kingdom fo...

    A Saudi prince was killed on Sunday when a helicopter with several officials on board crashed near the kingdom's southern border with war-torn Yemen, state television said. The news channel Al-Ekhbariya announced the death of Prince Mansour bin Moqren, the deputy governor of Asir province and son of a former crown prince. It did not reveal the cause of the crash or the fate of the other officials aboard the aircraft. The news channel Al-Ekhbariya said the helicopter had several officials on board, and did not reveal the cause of the crash that killed Saudi Prince Mansour bin Moqren, the deputy governor of Asir province News of the crash comes as Saudi Arabia pursues a sweeping purge of the kingdom's upper ranks, with dozens of princes, ministers and a billionaire tycoon ar...