The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia has said a ban on women driving in the conservative Gulf state protects society from "evil", AFP reported on Thursday. Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, in a speech delivered Wednesday in the western city of Medina, said the issue of giving women the right to drive should
More than 50 people were killed in mass executions across Iraq on Friday, security and medical officials said. Violence struck in and around Baghdad and mostly Sunni Arab parts of the country, including in Diyala, Nineveh, and Salaheddin provinces, as well as in the city of Kirkuk, Agence France-Presse reported. The recent surge
Egyptian police arrested on Thursday a leading political activist who was active in the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, Al-Ahram reports. The activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, was arrested after the prosecutor ordered he be detained for inciting protests. Abdel-Fattah's wife, Manal Hassan, tweeted that policemen beat and insulted her while arresting her
A mortar landed by the Russian Embassy in Damascus on Thursday, killing a Syrian civilian and injuring 9 security personnel working at the site, reports CNN. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced no Russians were hurt in the attack, and said it was investigating who was responsible. Meanwhile the US Department of State condemned the
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz received a phone call on Wednesday from U.S. President Barack Obama during which the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and regional issues, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The phone conversation came days after the United States and other major world powers signed an interim deal with
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake was reported on Thursday about 40 miles (60 km) northeast of Bushehr, where Iran has a major nuclear reactor, U.S. Geological Survey data showed, according to Reuters. A report about the earthquake by the official IRNA news agency gave no details about casualties nor if there was any damage.
Just over a week since an American university severed ties with the Hamas-linked Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, after pictures emerged showing a Nazi-style on-campus rally by Islamic Jihad in November, further evidence of fascist-style events at the flagship Palestinian Arab institution has emerged. Video footage, posted by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute),
Iranian collaboration with North Korea on a new rocket booster for long-range missiles undermines the recent deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, key Senate and House Republicans said on Tuesday, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “While the president was undertaking his secret negotiations—which Congress wasn’t informed of—he had to know Iran and
Despite initial positive statements by Saudi Arabia on the Iran nuclear deal reached Sunday in Geneva, a senior advisor to the Saudi royal family said that his country was deceived by its American ally in the agreements and will pursue an independent foreign policy in response. The advisor, Nawaf Obaid, told a think
A US citizen, who joined the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) in Syria, has sent a video message to the West expressing his desire to wage total war against the "infidels" and impose Islamic rule over the entire world. {youtube}8DK955ulD5c{/youtube} The video features "the American Abu-Dj'ana," brandishing a Kalashnikov assault rifle
