Category: World

Iran’s president cancels interview with Christiane Amanpour in New York after she refuses to wear a headscarf

Riyadh: A 63-year-old Saudi Arabian man has created a record of sorts by marrying 53 women during his life.

A video clip showing a Saudi citizen recounting the experience has now gone viral.

Abu Abdullah married 53 women at different intervals. He got married for the first time at the age of 20 and she was 6 years older than him.

According to the Arabic daily Sabq, the reason for his multiple marriages was his search for a woman who would make him happy in his life, as his marriages continued even after divorcing his fourth wife, indicating that he tried to do justice between his wives.

He explained that stability comes from marrying an older woman, not a young one, noting that the minimum duration of his marriage was only one night and that all his marriages were traditional.

It is reported that most of his marriages were with Saudi women, he also married a foreign woman when he traveled outside the Kingdom for his own work, and he stayed for 3-4 months.

“When I married for the first time, I did not plan to marry more than one woman because I was feeling comfortable and had children,” he recalled. “But after a while, problems happened and I decided to marry again when I was 23 years old and I informed my wife of my decision,” Abdullah said.

He pointed out that when a problem arose between his first and second wife, he decided to marry the third and fourth and after some time divorced the first and second, then the third after a quarrel between him and his fourth wife.

The number of people, married to more than one woman, has decreased in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab and Islamic world with the spread of contemporary lifestyles and living in small homes. The rising costs of living and the requirements for childbearing, education, health, and transportation, are also reasons for the decrease.

MAKKAH: Robots will recite the Holy Qur’an and provide information to visitors at Islam’s holiest site following the latest technology rollout by the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques.

The recitations, sermons and azan robots will feature at the Grand Mosque in Makkah through the work of the imam and muezzin affairs authority.

The smart robots will display barcodes enabling users to download services on smartphones. Alternatively, users can press commands on the robots to access information on prayers, imams, muezzins and weekly schedules, including the names of clerics delivering Friday sermons.

The launch of the robots by the presidency is part of a series of smart technology projects dedicated to the Two Holy Mosques to provide improved services to visitors.

FAST FACTS

• The smart robots will display barcodes enabling users to download services on smartphones. Alternatively, users can press commands on the robots to access information on prayers, imams, muezzins and weekly schedules.

• The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosque is keen to provide high- quality services, leadership and the latest administrative practices at the Grand Mosque to millions of Muslim visitors from around the world.

Chief of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais said that the launch is part of a “big strategic plan” to implement the smart Haramain project, according to Vision 2030 and the strategic 2024 plan of the presidency to provide improved services to visitors.

Al-Sudais added that the attention of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques is not limited to maximizing the utilization of modern technology in the Two Holy Mosques, but also aims at providing the same technology and and sophisticated services in the service of visitors.

He said that the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosque is ensuring the facilitation of daily services for visitors by reducing physical efforts and enhancing smart technology to keep pace with Vision 2030.

Al-Sudais added that the presidency is determined to move forward and keep pace with digital transformation, support technological development, provide a strategy to create task forces and ensure the sustainability of a creative culture.

The aim of the recitations, sermons and azan robot is to convey the messages of imams and muezzins of the Two Holy Mosques to visitors.

Al-Sudais has launched other smart robots that work without human intervention, including a disinfectant and sterilization robot, fatwa robot, smart disinfectant robot and a Holy Kaaba surface cleaning robot.

The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosque is keen to provide high-quality services, leadership and the latest administrative practices at the Grand Mosque to millions of Muslim visitors from around the world.

The footage has sparked outrage among Saudi activists who say the abuse is consistent with the human rights record of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Middle East Eye

A leaked video reportedly showing Saudi security services brutally assaulting a group of women at an orphanage in Saudi Arabia’s south-west has prompted outrage online and a promise by the government to investigate the incident.

The video, first posted on Twitter on Tuesday by a woman who filmed the attack, shows dozens of men dressed in security uniform and others in Saudi national dress chasing women, beating them with wooden sticks and lashing them with leather belts. The video then shows a man dragging one of the women by her hair as she screams, while another beats her with a belt.

Footage shared on social media shows multiple male security forces attacking women at an orphanage in the city of Khamis Mushait.

Saudi Arabia released a statement on Wednesday saying that it will open an investigation into the incident.#ايتام_خميس_مشيط pic.twitter.com/PRMIXiGl54

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 31, 2022

The orphanage is located in Khamis Mushait, a city in Asir province, some 884 kilometres from the capital Riyadh.

In response to the video, the governor of the province, Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, ordered the formation of a committee to investigate “all parties” of the incident and “refer the case to the competent authority”.

The video has gone viral on social media, with the hashtag “Khamis Mushait Orphans” trending in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Saudi human rights advocates denounced the video as more evidence of the Saudi government’s suppression of women rights in the kingdom under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Since becoming the kingdom’s de-facto ruler in 2017, the crown prince has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent, despite promoting himself as a leader of liberal reforms. The crackdown has targeted members of the political opposition, the Shia minority, as well as female activists who called for an end to discriminatory policies and social practices against women. 

Women in these orphanages should be allowed to share their experiences and make calls for improved conditions without being targeted’

– Lina al-Hathloul

Meanwhile, Abdullah al-Juraywi, a London-based Saudi opposition activist and head of Diwan London dialogue platform, told MEE the assault came in response to a strike held by the women to demand improved conditions after earlier protests about mistreatment were ignored. The administration of the orphanage then requested the intervention of the security services.

It is not yet immediately clear how many women were detained in the incident. Saudi authorities have yet to release details.

“Women in these orphanages should be allowed to share their experiences and make calls for improved conditions without being targeted, harassed or assaulted in any shape or form,” Al-Hathloul told MEE.

She also called on the Saudi authorities to “establish an independent and transparent investigation” into the incident and to hold the perpetrators accountable.

MEE has asked the Saudi foreign ministry for comment on the incident but received no response.

With inputs from the Middle East Eye

(Except for the headlines, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Saudi Arabia has decided to invest $1 billion in Pakistan, Saudi state TV reported.Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz had given the directive for the kingdom to support the Pakistani economy, state TV as per ‘Reuters’ added.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz had given the directive for the kingdom to support the Pakistani economy, state TV as per ‘Reuters’ added.

Sheikh Saleh al-Taleb, a former imam of the Great Mosque of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, has been sentenced to ten years in prison by Saudi authorities, according to rights group ‘Prisoners of Conscience’.

The Court of Appeals overturned an initial decision by the Specialised Criminal Court that had acquitted Sheikh Al-Taleb, instead giving him a formal jail sentence, according to the rights group.

Confirmed to us that the Court of Appeal reversed the release ruling against the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Saleh Al-Talib, and issued a ten-year prison sentence against him. pic.twitter.com/wWcdrLJgsP

— Prisoners of Conscience (@m3takl_en) August 23, 2022

Sheikh Saleh al-Taleb was initially arrested in August 2018. There was no official explanation for the 48-year-old’s detention, but rights groups say his arrest came after he delivered a sermon on the duty of Muslims to speak out against evil in public.

Here is that sermon that could have been the reason for his arrest:

اللهم فك أسره!
الحكم على إمام الحرم المكي الشيخ #صالح_آل_طالب بالسجن عشر سنين بسبب هذه الخطبة!
إذا لم يقم خطيب الجمعة وإمام البيت الحرام بالأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر والدعوة إلى الإصلاح فما هي وظيفته إذاً!
﴿ولتكن منكم أمة يدعون إلى الخير ويأمرون بالمعروف وينهون عن المنكر﴾ pic.twitter.com/12acS1sdFC

— أ.د. حاكم المطيري (@DrHAKEM) August 22, 2022

Saudi Arabia is known for routinely imprisoning activists, journalists, and preachers without a clear cause.

Dozens of preachers have reportedly been arrested since 2017, including some who called for reconciliation between the Gulf States when Saudi Arabia orchestrated a siege against neighbouring Qatar.

Many of those clerics are still in jail, despite relations between the neighbours since being normalised.

Last week, Saudi authorities sentenced doctoral student Salma Al-Shehab to 34 years behind bars for tweets critical of the government, triggering outrage worldwide.

Editorial Statement: Haramain Sharifain strongly condemns the blasphemy of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Him) committed by a member of India’s ruling party BJP.

Salman Rushdie has serious stab wounds to his eye, liver and arm after assassination attempt in New York yesterday. He is currently on a ventilator after an emergency surgery was performer. Rushdie is likely to lose an eye.

Another Prophet’s ﷺ Prophecy Came True As Earth Has Started Spinning Faster

June 29, 2022, was 1.59 milliseconds shorter than an average day. This means that it was a shorter day than most. But even though it was a shorter day, it still had the same number of hours.

The Hour (Last Day) will not be established until (religious) knowledge will be taken away (by the death of religious learned men), earthquakes will be very frequent, time will pass quickly, afflictions will appear, murders will increase and money will overflow amongst you. (Bukhari)

The hour shall not be established until time is constricted, and the year is like a month, a month is like the week, and the week is like the day, and the day is like the hour, and the hour is like the flare of the fire. (Tirmidhi)

The average day is comprised of 24 hours. This equates to 86,400 seconds. That’s a lot of time!

But in recent years, the Earth’s rotation has sped up. As a result, some days are now shorter than they used to be. This change can be traced back to the Earth’s core, where the molten iron is gradually solidifying. As the core solidifies, it becomes more deformable, and the Earth’s rotational speed increases.

How Does it Impact Life

According to a report by Forbes, a faster spin would mean Earth gets the same position a little earlier than the previous day. A half-a-millisecond equates to 10-inches or 26 centimetres at the equator. In short, GPS satellites—which already have to be corrected for the effect of Einstein’s general relativity theory (the curve of space and time)—are quickly going to become useless.

It can also impact smartphones, computers and communication systems at large, which synchronise with Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers). It’s defined as the number of seconds since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on 1 January, 1970.

To solve all this, international timekeepers may need to add a negative leap second— a “drop second.”

According to the Independent, the UTC, the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time, has been updated with a leap second 27 times.

With Inputs from Agencies

Washington: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has been killed in a CIA drone strike in Afghanistan, US officials told Reuters on Monday, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and surgeon, helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which four civilian aircraft were hijacked and slammed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.

One of the US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a drone strike was carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.

“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant Al Qaeda target in Afghanistan,” a senior administration official said.

“The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” the official added.

If confirmed, his death in a CIA drone strike raises questions about whether he was being given sanctuary by the Taliban following their takeover of Kabul in August 2021 as the last US-led troops were leaving Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of “international principles.”

US President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Monday at 7:30 p.m. (2330 GMT) on what the White House described as a “successful counter-terrorism operation.”

A loud explosion echoed through Kabul early Sunday morning.

“A house was hit by a rocket in Sherpoor. There were no casualties as the house was empty,” Abdul Nafi Takor, spokesman of the interior ministry, said earlier.

One Taliban source, requesting anonymity, said there had been reports of at least one drone flying over Kabul that morning.

With other senior al Qaeda members, Zawahiri is believed to have plotted the October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole naval vessel in Yemen which killed 17 US sailors and injured more than 30 others, the Rewards for Justice website said.

He was indicted in the United States for his role in the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and wounded more than 5,000 others.

Both bin laden and Zawahiri had eluded capture when US.-led forces toppled Afghanistan’s Taliban government in late 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by US forces in Pakistan.–(Reuters)