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. The policy change, announced by the Saudi government on Thursday, also marks a major step away from the strict...

The Saudi public prosecutor's office said Monday it will recruit women as investigators for the first time, as the kingdom seeks to boost female employment under a reform plan for a post-oil era. "Vacancies are available in women's positions on the staff of the public prosecution for...

ADEN, Yemen: The United States has laid off 360 local staff in Yemen three years after closing its embassy as a civil war spread in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country. Ambassador Matthew Tueller wrote to workers saying new U.S. State Department regulations about suspended...

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi women should not have to wear the loose-fitting abaya robe to shroud their bodies in public, a senior cleric said, in the latest sign of a far-reaching liberalisation drive. "More than 90 percent of pious Muslim women in the Muslim world do not wear abayas," said...