Saudi Arabia - Page 21

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Against the backdrop of the first papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula is an interfaith conference that includes prominent US rabbis and Christian evangelicals, who are seeking stronger recognition of Israel through closer ties with Muslim figures and Arab leaders.

Mariah Carey, one of the world’s most celebrated artists, is performing in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for the first time, but there’s a growing chorus of Saudi women calling on her to cancel the concert to show support for detained women’s rights activists.

Newsguard, the beltway establishment-backed “news rating” browser plugin that assigns websites a green or red rating based on their “trustworthiness,” claims to care about integrity in news. But one of the project’s top investors operates a D.C.-based subsidiary that has been trying to manipulate American news media on behalf of Saudi Arabia and its brutal military intervention in Yemen.

In a missive sent to supporters, Hillary Clinton utilized what she claimed were “false accusations” and “baseless assaults” against the controversial Clinton Foundation in order to build up the foundation’s email list.

Two foreign exchange students from Saudi Arabia who were charged with serious violent crimes in the United States have fled the country, according to a report from a local Oregon news outlet.

The Center for American Progress fired two staffers suspected of leaking information related to UAE influence over its operations.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Another Saudi woman has turned to social media for protection from her father, just days after Canada granted refuge to Rahaf al-Qunun, the 18-year-old Saudi who fled her family.

A Saudi woman who turned her back on her country of birth and her Muslim religion expects her experience of being accepted as a refugee in Canada to inspire other women to follow her.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Riyadh on Monday to discuss the civil wars in Yemen and Syria, threats posed by Iran, the dispute with Qatar, and the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the essay that changed the world: Jeane Kirkpatrick’s “Dictatorships and Double Standards.” Her words are as relevant to today’s foreign policy challenges as they were to 1979’s.

Contents: In turnaround, Saudi Arabia will give $10 billion to Pakistan, rejecting Iran; India takes over operations at Iran’s Chabahar port, despite US sanctions

BEIRUT — He has survived eight years of war and billions of dollars in money and weapons aimed at toppling him. Now Syrian President Bashar Assad is poised to be readmitted to the fold of Arab nations, a feat once deemed unthinkable as he forcefully crushed the uprising against his family’s rule.

Islam’s holiest site has been hit by a swarm of locusts forcing religious authorities to launch an unprecedented clean-up operation.

SYDNEY — Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee.

The Taliban on Tuesday called off scheduled peace negotiations with American officials in Qatar this week over “agenda differences,” particularly the involvement of officials from the Afghan government, a truce requested by U.S.-backed Kabul, and a prisoner exchange the Taliban demanded.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s immigration police chief met Tuesday with officials of the Saudi Embassy in Bangkok, and said the officials told him they are satisfied with how the case of a young Saudi woman who claims to be fleeing her abusive family has been handled.

The Taliban wants to change the venue of scheduled peace talks with the United States this month from Saudi Arabia to Qatar over Riyadh’s push to include the Afghan government in the negotiations, members of the Taliban declared on Sunday.

New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg eviscerated streaming giant Netflix for blocking an episode of the Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj from streaming in Saudi Arabia following complaints about its portrayal of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Women in Saudi Arabia who have been divorced by their husband will now be notified of their new marital status by a text.

A young Saudi woman who has renounced Islam and remains stranded at Bangkok’s main airport after fleeing her “abusive” family has been assured by Thai police she will not be deported.

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, has dominated headlines globally over the past few months. Khashoggi, also a former advisor to the Saudi Royal family, had fallen out of favor and went into a self-imposed exile in the United States last year.

A young Saudi woman who has renounced Islam says she is stranded at Bangkok’s main airport after fleeing her family and having her passport seized by a Saudi official. She claims she was on her way to Australia in search of asylum.

The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival in Saudi Arabia will begin later this month with organizers hoping to avoid the controversy that saw 12 camels disqualified in 2018 after their owners were found to have used Botox to plump up the lips, noses and jaws of their entries.

Populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has slammed Saudi Arabia, the host of the Italian football Super Cup, for not allowing single women to attend the match without a man accompanying them.

The Wall Street Journal ran a troubling report on Wednesday describing how high-powered anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) are now in the hands of terrorist groups thanks to years of outside programs for arming various factions in Syria, including the Obama administration’s effort to arm “white hat” Syrian rebels.

Saudi Arabian prosecutors opened the trial for eleven suspects in the October murder of Jamal Khashoggi on Thursday by seeking the death penalty for five of the defendants and complaining about Turkey’s refusal to hand over evidence in the case, presumably because Turkey wants the defendants extradited to face trial there.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi state media say that suspects in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have attended their first court hearing.

The internationally-recognized government of Yemen echoed the charges raised by a new United Nations report and accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of stealing food from humanitarian aid programs.

Netflix faced criticism on Wednesday for pulling an episode in Saudi Arabia of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s “Patriot Act” that criticized the kingdom’s powerful crown prince.

Streaming service Netflix ditched an episode of “Patriot Act” from it’s left-wing host Hasan Minhaj in Saudi Arabi in what critics call a flagrant capitulation to government censorship.

Netflix has removed an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act in Saudi Arabia after its government complained about the variety show’s criticism of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to reports.

New Year’s Eve brought an unusual run of bad press for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen, whose activities are rarely discussed at length by Western media.

Venezuela will assume the presidency of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) next year, leading the world’s oil industries as its own collapses.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz ordered an overhaul of government posts and shook up the cabinet on Thursday, most notably replacing Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

The Washington Post published an interesting piece last weekend about its slain contributor Jamal Khashoggi that painted a very different portrait of the man transformed into an avatar of pure journalistic integrity by most of the media.

It was a privilege to represent you before Congress and to put forward in a public forum what we have known for a long time about Bill and Hillary Clinton and their Foundation: Influence pays handsomely.