Saudi Arabia

The move comes a week after the Kingdom dropped some precautionary Covid-19 measures, including wearing face masks indoors and providing proof of vaccination in order to enter most public places. Despite the relaxation of Covid-19 measures, the Ministry of Interior said last week that people will still be required to wear masks in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, places regulated by the Saudi Public Health Authority Weqaya, and places and events that impose their own mask mandates.

Officials said that Saudi Arabia's first such flight was operated last week, completing a short domestic journey and crossing a milestone for women's empowerment. The flight was operated by flyadeal Airlines, a budget subsidiary of Saudia, the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia. "For the first time in Saudi aviation history, #flyadeal operated the first flight with an all-female crew, most of whom were Saudis, by the latest A320 aircraft. Flight 117 took off from Riyadh and flew to Jeddah," the airline tweeted.

The General Directorate of Passports said that the list of countries comprised Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, and Venezuela, The Express Tribune reported. The Directorate emphasised that the validity of the passport of Saudis who intend to travel to non-Arab countries must be more than six months.

"If we aim to reach a new stage in the talks with Saudi Arabia, all dimensions and aspects must be taken into consideration," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday during a televised interview following his visits to Syria and Lebanon. Regarding the situation in Yemen, Amir-Abdollahian added that Saudi Arabia has received a number of requests from Iran to cease the war in Yemen, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran has "temporarily" suspended normalization talks with Saudi Arabia, Iran's Press TV reported on Sunday. The Iranian side has "unilaterally and temporarily" suspended the talks which was slated to be held in Iraq next week, according to the report.

Designated by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in January, the Founding Day is to mark the day when Imam Muhammed bin Saud established the first Saudi state in the town of Diriyah, northwest of Riyadh, in 1727, reports Xinhua news agency. The occasion was celebrated on Tuesday with a host of cultural events across Saudi Arabia.

Credit Suisse customers included heads of state, royal families, ministers, spy chiefs, and government-connected businessmen from across the Arab world, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) said in a report.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for  the drone attack last week in the industrial area of Musaffah in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The attacks are said to be in response to the airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition which has been carpet-bombing the Houthis in Yemen since 2015. Given the region’s importance in global energy security, it becomes pertinent to understand the history of the Yemen politics, the emergence and relevance of Houthis in civil war and why is the Saudi-led coalition dropping bombs across Yemen.

On Tuesday midnight, it was the second consecutive day of airstrikes by the coalition that hit the al-Siyanah maintenance camp in central Sanaa, Xinhua news agency reported citing al-Masirah TV. The explosions smashed windows of nearby houses and sent a fire which could be seen from downtown.

The speech made on January was aired on Iran's Bushehr TV and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). "We cannot bear to see injustice in a Muslim country that is perpetrated by the Zionists and the seed of the Jews," the commander, General Alireza Tangsiri, could be heard saying in a video recording of the speech, the report said.