RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi women took the driver’s seat for the first time in their country’s history after midnight Sunday, steering their way through busy streets just minutes after the world’s last remaining ban on women driving was lifted.
RIYADH – Even a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine — Saudi women clad in skinny jeans and Harley-Davidson T-shirts, revving motorbikes at a Riyadh sports circuit.
Saudi Arabia’s reformist Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been warned by terrorist group Al-Qaeda that recent changes that include allowing women drivers and wrestling in his conservative kingdom are a sin.
Saudi Arabia has arrested seven women’s rights campaigners, accusing them of working with “foreign entities” as the kingdom prepares to lift its controversial ban on female drivers.
Saudi women, start your engines. The General Department of Traffic Director General Mohammed al-Bassami said on Tuesday that female drivers will be allowed the freedom of the road in the deeply conservative kingdom from June 24.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for unity among the Gulf states against the “common challenge” of Iran during his trip to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi sports authorities shut down a female fitness center in Riyadh Friday over a contentious promotional video that appeared to show a woman in figure-hugging workout attire.
MADRID (AP) — The crown prince of Saudi Arabia was on an official visit Thursday to longtime commercial ally Spain, where activists are criticizing past and possible future sales of military equipment to the kingdom.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Wednesday hit back at Saudi accusations that Tehran provides “support for terrorism,” pointing at alleged links between Riyadh and jihadists such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
The first commercial cinema on Saudi Arabian soil in 35 years will be open by the end of April, with another 30-40 to follow in 15 cities over the next five years.
In the wake of a remarkable statement of support for Israel’s right to exist by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reigning King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday reaffirmed “the Kingdom’s steadfast position toward the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
RIYADH – Saudi King Salman reaffirmed support for Palestinians to US President Donald Trump, state media said Tuesday, after his son and heir apparent said Israel has a “right” to a homeland.
In an interview with the Atlantic conducted from the compound of the Saudi ambassador in Washington, who happens to be his brother, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered strong criticism of Iran and some thoughts about the religious, cultural, and economic upheaval in progress in Saudi Arabia. In one remarkable exchange, MBS recognized the right of Israel to exist – a bold step for any Arab leader, let alone the next guardian of Mecca and Medina.
In an interview published on Monday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recognized Israel’s right to exist and discussed shared interests between the Jewish state and the larger Arab world.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in New York City on Monday for the beginning of a U.S. tour that will take him through Seattle and Silicon Valley to Hollywood, as he meets with media and tech leaders to talk up Saudi investments and follow up on at least one recent massive purchase: his acquisition of a $400 million stake in Hollywood talent agency WME/Endeavor.
The education ministry of Saudi Arabia has promised to purge every trace of Muslim Brotherhood ideology from textbooks and fire anyone sympathetic to the group who works for the school system.
Jared Kushner’s private and sometimes secret meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman have reportedly “unsettled” intelligence and national security officials who worry that Kushner has been “freelancing” U.S. foreign policy without even having a permanent security clearance.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister criticized the Iran nuclear deal as “flawed” and told reporters the country is “looking at ways in which we can push back” against the Shiite state sponsor of terrorism on Monday, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) traveled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman defended his anti-corruption crackdown as “extremely necessary” in an interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday.
A report surfacing this week claims Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), 31, has blocked his father, King Salman, from seeing his mother for more than two years and has worked to keep them apart throughout his rise to power.
Saudi Arabia’s reform program continued on Monday with a statement from the Information Ministry that women will now be allowed to retain custody of their children after a divorce.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced on Sunday that special units of anti-corruption prosecutors have been established to “protect the homeland and its resources, maintain public money and protect the integrity of the public employment.”
As he prepared to wrap up a visit to Cairo that included a landmark visit to the Coptic Christian St. Mark’s Cathedral, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threw another jab at Islamists by describing them as one side of a “triangle of evil” that includes Iran… and Turkey.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is steadily making his way westward in a “charm offensive” intended to convince political leaders and investors across the world that his country is modernizing, liberalizing, and becoming a stable home for foreign capital after a bit of turbulence early in his reign.
Saudi Arabia has elevated a woman to the Sunni kingdom’s deputy labor minister post as it reshuffles positions within its military and government.
Contents: From missile strikes and bombings to cholera, war-torn Yemen deteriorates; Saudi Arabia sacks its top tier of military commanders
RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is to invest $64 billion in its entertainment sector over the coming decade, an official said Thursday, as the kingdom pursues a programme of social and economic reforms.
RIYADH – Women in Saudi Arabia can now open their own businesses without the consent of a husband or male relative, as the kingdom pushes to expand a fast-growing private sector.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the totalitarian Islamist ruler of Saudi Arabia, is due to visit London in early March, groups have claimed.
Saudi authorities announced on Tuesday that all detainees held at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton in the anti-corruption crackdown have been released. Some detainees charged with more serious crimes have been moved to regular prison facilities.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, perhaps the highest-profile member of the Saudi royal family to be detained during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s anti-corruption crackdown, has finally been released from detention after reaching an unspecified financial settlement with the Saudi government.
The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh will reopen to the general public in February after three months of serving as a temporary detention center for royals, officials, and businessmen caught up in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s anti-corruption crackdown.
At the heart of Saudi Arabia’s recent cultural and political upheaval is an understanding that the country must become more compatible with the Western world, and more hospitable to foreign investment, in order to manage the transition away from an oil-based economy with limitless deep pockets. Possibly the trickiest aspect of this transformation will be an Islamic reformation in the notoriously strict kingdom.
The Saudi government has assumed managerial control of the enormous Saudi Binladin Group, the largest construction company in the nation, and may nationalize some of the group’s assets. The move is part of an anti-corruption crackdown that some view as an effort to grab money and resources for a once-profligate government in deep financial trouble, and a consolidation of power by the recently-named heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Prince Abdullah bin Saud bin Mohammed was named president of the Saudi Marine Sports Federation in October. His tenure came to an abrupt end after three months on Wednesday, when he was sacked over his criticism of royal arrests seen by skeptics as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s effort to consolidate power.
A football match scheduled for this Friday in Saudi Arabia will mark the first time women in the Gulf kingdom have been allowed to venture to a sporting event.
Saudi Arabia’s attorney general on Sunday confirmed 11 princes had been arrested after protesting the kingdom’s austerity measures and would face trial after “disrupting public peace and order”.
Two months after a sweeping series of arrests and temporary detentions made in connection with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s corruption probe, the fate of perhaps the biggest fish caught in the net remains uncertain: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the most wealthy, famous, and well-connected men in the world.
King Abdullah of Jordan reportedly fired his brothers Prince Feisal and Prince Ali and his cousin Prince Talal on Friday, relieving them of important military posts.
Citing a dozen “Western, Lebanese, and regional officials and associates” of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri, on Christmas Eve the New York Times published an account of Hariri’s resignation (and later un-resignation) that asserts he was forced out of office by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of Saudi Arabia’s cold war against Iran.
