Asia

by Gavin O'Toole Leading female scholars from Saudi Arabia have described moves to ease restrictions on women as government spin aimed at an international audience to bolster support for efforts to liberalise its ailing economy. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to appeal to western governments as a...

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations says it needs $4.4 billion by July to prevent famine in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and northeastern Nigeria. U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien, who just returned from field missions to the affected countries, told Security Council members Friday that the...

76 more men to be released next month in two batches FIFTEEN SOMALI nationals, who were arrested during anti-piracy operations in January 2011, have been released, after they completed seven year jail sentence, on January 2. They were convicted by a sessions court on August...

More than 30,000 Somali refugees have apparently returned to Somalia from Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said, and an increasing number are seeking aid to return home. Babar Baloch, spokesperson at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), today told reporters...

Prime Minister Abe says Japan 'will take concrete action with the US' after Scud missile crashes into Japanese waters. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his country will join the United States in taking concrete action against North Korea after its latest ballistic missile test. On...

Saudi King Salman ordered the country's officials to stop implementation of all agreements between Riyadh and Cairo until further notice. Al-Bawaba al-Fajr news website quoted an Egyptian diplomatic source as saying that most agreements signed between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been suspended at the...

At least nine people have been killed overnight amid ongoing nationwide anti-government protests that began last week in various cities across Iran. Iranian state television confirmed on Tuesday that six demonstrators were killed during a raid on a police station in Qahdarijan. According to state media, the...

Dual nationals might not be welcome in Australia's parliament – the Barnaby Joyce citizenship saga has reminded us all of that. But meet Ibrahim Ahmed Reigal, an Australian who sits in the parliament of Somaliland. Mr Reigal divides his time between his constituency in the breakaway...

Pakistan is refusing to abandon its neutrality after being asked by Saudi Arabia to take a stance amid growing tensions between a number of Gulf Arab states and Qatar. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  held a meeting Monday in...

Türkiye and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed 13 agreements on various areas during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the Gulf country. The agreements on Monday were signed during the meeting between the Turkish and UAE delegation chaired jointly by Erdogan and Abu...