The New York Times makes a strong case that the most important player in Afghanistan’s future is not the United States, but Saudi Arabia, because Saudis are funding both sides of Afghanistan’s endless civil war.
The Senate recently passed the Justice Against State Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) – a law intended to permit victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia in court for being complicit in the terrorist acts committed that day.
In the wake of reports that SoftBank Group Corp. founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son was set to meet with Donald Trump in New York, the President-elect announced that the Japanese telecommunications company will invest up to $50 billion in the U.S. which includes plans to create 50,000 new jobs here.
An Egyptian state advisory body recommended on Monday that a Cairo court uphold a ruling that annulled an agreement giving Saudi Arabia control of two Red Sea islands.
A top Saudi cleric sparked a controversy in releasing an online sermon in which he made statements that were misogynistic even by the standards of the ultraconservative kingdom.
Geopolitical Futures’ George Friedman has warned that Saudi Arabia’s inability to keep oil prices up to $90 a barrel will frustrate the kingdom’s effort to balance its books, meaning it is only a matter of time before “Riyadh’s unique social stability comes apart.”
TEL AVIV – A Saudi academic has called on Muslims to adapt themselves to the modern age by reforming mosques to be more like churches, with mixed prayers, seating and dim lighting, and to change the “fanatical and sexualized” perception
Saudi billionaire Prince Walid bin Talal has weighed in on the ongoing debate on women’s right to drive, saying “the time has come” to recognize it.
Contents: Mahmoud Abbas, 81, reelected leader of Fatah/Palestinian Authority; Hopes again grow for Gaza-West Bank unity government
The “dirty war” between soccer clubs in Saudi Arabia, known across the Arab World for its unabashed nature, has hit a new low when a rumor associating the Arab porn star Maya Khalifa with Alnasser FC went viral.
The Saudi Justice Ministry dealt with almost as many divorce requests as wedding requests, newly released figures reveal.
Contents: Egypt to send troops to Syria to aid Bashar al-Assad and Russia; Egypt rejects its former benefactor, Saudi Arabia, in favor of Russia and Iran
A photo of two young female students selling tea in the streets of Medina has gone viral in Saudi Arabia, where female labor was taboo until recently.
Egypt’s public prosecutor has brought before the military judiciary 292 suspected Islamic State militants, some of whom are accused of plotting to assassinate President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
TEL AVIV – At least a dozen senior Iranian officials who were part of negotiations for the U.S.-led nuclear deal were arrested by the Islamic Republic on espionage charges, an Iranian lawmaker said.
TEL AVIV – Eleven Arab nations warned outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that “expansionist” and “sponsor of terrorism” Iran has only intensified its policy of “aggression in the region and the continuation of support for terrorist groups” since the nuclear deal.
On Tuesday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalik al-Mekhlafi snubbed Secretary of State John Kerry’s cease-fire proposal in unusually brusque terms.
The Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has prohibited international schools from designating non-Islamic holidays, such as Christmas and New Year’s Day, as school vacation days, reports the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).
Eleven Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa, echoing an official U.S. position, have accused Shiite powerhouse Iran of being a state sponsor of “terrorism,” noting that the Islamic Republic is “funding and arming militias that destabilize our region.”
Arab leaders must treat the region’s 100 million young people as an asset, not a liability, the UN’s youth envoy said in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has a “very comfortable” level of foreign reserves, the central bank chairman said on Monday, despite a drawdown in assets to help cover a fall in oil revenue.
The Saudi media reported on new gold- and diamond-coated baby bottles that have gone on sale as the Saudi government’s efforts to modernize the national economy and make it efficient and sustainable.
Saudi Arabia has been in turmoil after an economist published a research paper showing that 1.1 trillion riyals (more than US$250 billion) have disappeared from the state budget without a trace.
Saudi business magnate Prince Alwaleed bin Talal congratulated Donald Trump on his U.S. presidential victory, almost a year after the two clashed bitterly on Twitter.
Contents: Egypt, in economic crisis, sharply devalues currency in order to get an IMF loan; Egypt’s government says that ‘the luxury of delay is not available’
The niece of a top Palestinian official who recently told Israeli TV that she loves Israel to the point of having tattooed Israeli symbols on her body has been disowned by her Palestinian family.
Saudi Arabia has flogged a prince convicted in a criminal case, a newspaper reported Wednesday, two weeks after another was executed for murder in rare punishment of the country’s royalty.
Saudi Arabia has congratulated Lebanon’s new President Michel Aoun on his election despite the support he received from the kingdom’s regional foes.
Saudi Arabia’s parliament on Monday struck down a bill to allow women to drive. The Shura Council, the kingdom’s legislative body voted against a proposal to instruct the Labor and Interior Ministries to look into the matter, 65 to 62. In order to gain approval, the bill had to secure 76 votes.
A Facebook post thought to be ridiculing one of Islam’s holiest sites prompted a mob of over 100 Muslim protesters to loot at least 15 temples and hundreds of Hindu homes in the Muslim-majority nation of Bangladesh, a local Hindu community leader told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Middle East has few bright spots these days, but one is the budding rapprochement between Israel and its Sunni Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to shared threats from Iran and Islamic State.
Iran’s judiciary has issued verdicts for 20 people accused of storming Saudi diplomatic missions in January and will announce them in the near future, an official was quoted as saying by the judiciary news agency on Tuesday.
The Obama administration has sought, and achieved, re-election to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) — a disgraced organization that does little except protect dictators and criticize Israel.
A Saudi man divorced his wife two hours after they got married because she sent wedding pictures on Snapchat, despite having specified in the marriage contract that she would refrain from using social media.
TEL AVIV – The world would have been better off without the Middle East and blaming Israel for rampant extremism, ignorance and infighting in Arab nations is futile and shallow, a Saudi columnist wrote in the country’s Al-Watan daily.
TEL AVIV – The niece of a senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and a close confidant of the late leader Yasser Arafat said she loves the State of Israel so much she had the word “Israel” in Hebrew tattooed on her shoulder.
A Saudi court ruling allowing a woman to watch her husband’s flogging, which he received as punishment for biting her, has been a cause for concern for some of the kingdom’s men.
According to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Mecca on Thursday, but the coalition was able to bring it down about 40 miles short of the Muslim holy city.
Yemeni rebels have launched one of their longest-range strikes against Saudi Arabia, firing a ballistic missile that was shot down near the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi-led coalition fighting them said Friday.
The head of US military operations in the Middle East wrapped up an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia Tuesday, amid mounting friction over the kingdom’s bombing campaign in neighbouring Yemen.
