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Saudi prosecutor to hire women investigators for first time

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...

U.S. lays off local staff three years after closing Yemen embassy

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...

Saudi women need not wear abaya robes: senior cleric

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...

85,000 displaced in 10 weeks of violence in Yemen: UN

GENEVA, Switzerland: The UN said Friday that surging violence across Yemen had pushed some 85,000 people from their homes in the past 10 weeks, with hundreds continuing to flee each day. The UN refugee agency said more than 70 percent of those displaced since December 1 had fled a...

5 Houthi commanders killed in Al-Jawf: Yemen army

The Yemeni army on Friday announced the death of five Houthi field commanders in “fierce clashes” that occurred one day earlier in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province. “Five Houthi commanders were killed Thursday evening when the army responded to attempts by Houthi elements to...

Bahrain arrests 4 in pipeline blast, laying blame on Iran

Bahraini authorities say police have arrested four men suspected of being behind a blast that ripped through a state-run oil pipeline in November. A statement by the Interior Ministry says two of those arrested received "intensive training" in Iranian Revolutionary Guard camps in...

Yemeni officials say government forces retake strategic city

Yemeni forces loyal to the country's internationally recognized government Tuesday recaptured a key crossroads town in the southwestern province of Hudaida in an effort to cut off supply lines to the Shiite rebels, officials said. The forces backed by airstrikes from an Arab-led...

UN: 47,000 displaced in Yemen since December

Nearly 47,000 people have been displaced to Yemen’s coastal city of Aden because of rising unrest in two cities since late last year, the UN said Monday. "Escalating conflict in Taizz and Hudaydah since December 2017 has displaced nearly 47,000 people to Aden and other governorates in...

Bahrain deports 8 after revoking their citizenship: HRW

DUBAI: Bahrain has deported eight people to war-torn Iraq after revoking their citizenship and making them stateless, Human Rights Watch said Sunday, accusing the Gulf monarchy of exiling dissidents. The eight were deported to Iraq's southern Shiite city of Najaf on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 after...

Bomb blast kills top military commander in S. Yemen

A senior pro-government military commander was killed in a bomb blast in southern Yemen on Saturday, according to a local military officer. The explosion struck the convoy of Lt-Col. Moeen al-Shamsi, commander of the 83 Air Defense Brigade, in the Qa’tabah district in the...

Saudi Arabia and UAE suffer Yemen setback as allies fall out

NEHM, Yemen/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pumped billions of dollars into fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, but the Gulf states’ three-year campaign risks being derailed after their local allies turned on each other this week. It was a serious...

Saudis reportedly raise stipends for some royals after purge

Saudi Arabia increased its payments to some members of the royal family just as officials were wrapping up a controversial anti-corruption campaign that targeted some of the kingdom’s richest men and most prominent princes, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The...

Saudi, UAE envoys bid to end standoff in Aden

Saudi and Emirati envoys shuttled between Yemeni government forces and besieging southern separatists in second city Aden Thursday in a bid to end a tense standoff after days of deadly infighting. The Sunday assault on the embattled government's headquarters by its former allies...

US urges end to Qatar-Gulf row

The Secretaries of Defense and State urged an end to the ongoing row between Qatar and four of its neighbors Tuesday, saying the Gulf crisis has not only hurt the countries directly involved but Washington as well. "This dispute has had direct negative consequences economically...

Saudi official says all detainees released from Ritz

A Saudi official said on Tuesday all detainees were released from Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel, where they were held as part of an anti-corruption campaign. Dozens of princes, senior officials and top businessmen were detained and confined in the opulent Ritz-Carlton Riyadh as the...

Death toll rises on second day of clashes in Yemeni port of Aden

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Four people were killed on Monday in a second day of fighting between rival factions seeking control of the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, where the internationally recognised administration is based, witnesses and officials said. The clashes between...

Saudi's Ibrahim to keep control of regional broadcaster MBC: executive

Saudi Arabia's Waleed al-Ibrahim will keep management control of regional television broadcaster MBC after his release from detention in the country's corruption probe, a senior MBC executive told Reuters Monday. The executive, speaking on condition of anonymity under briefing...

Qatar emir sends condolences to UAE leader despite row

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani sent condolences Sunday to the president of the United Arab Emirates, whose mother has died, despite the diplomatic rift between the two countries. The emir sent a cable "to HH President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin...