RIYADH: A royal approval has been issued to grant Saudi citizenship to American businessman Travis Kalanick and Chief Executive Officer of Red Sea Global John Pagano. They join the ranks of distinguished scientists, innovators, experts in rare specializations and entrepreneurs who have been granted Saudi citizenship.| Arab News
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GENEVA: Sudan’s brutal war has intensified since the start of the year, with surging numbers of summary executions and a deeply worrying increase in ethnic violence, the United Nations said Friday. The UN rights chief Volker Turk warned in a statement of “increasing ethnicization of the conflict” between the regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has gripped Sudan since April 2023. The “forgotten” conflict has already killed tens of thousands and...| ArabNews
PARIS: British trip-hop group Massive Attack announced they are joining a new music industry initiative to block their music in Israel and have also asked for their songs to be removed from Spotify. The Bristol natives said they had joined “No Music for Genocide,” a collective of musicians modelled on the “Film Workers for Palestine” group, which has also called for a cultural boycott of Israel over the war in Gaza.| ArabNews
KYIV: Ukraine is making progress in intensive talks to formalize legally binding security guarantees with the United States and European allies, a key part of its bid to end the war with Russia, First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsia said. A bilateral agreement with the United States remains vital, and US President Donald Trump’s recent commitment to participate in Ukraine’s defense was a “breakthrough moment,” Kyslytsia told Reuters in an interview.| ArabNews
HONG KONG: Hong Kong planned to evacuate thousands of residents on Friday as a bomb left over from World War II was discovered at a construction site. Police said that the bomb measured approximately 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in length and weighed about 450 kilograms (1,000 pounds), adding that they believed it remained “fully functional.” “Due to the extremely high risks involved in dismantling and disposing of the bomb, we must activate the emergency evacuation plan,” said Hong Kong Pol...| ArabNews
BAGHDAD: Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, has given preliminary approval to a plan to resume pipeline oil exports from its semi-autonomous Kurdistan region through Turkiye following delays to a hoped-for restart, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. The deal between Iraq’s federal government, the Kurdistan Regional Government and international oil companies could add at least 230,000 barrels per day of fresh supplies at a time OPEC producers are raising output to regain mark...| ArabNews
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded three others on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, in the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. In a statement, the ministry said that an “Israeli airstrike on a vehicle” in Tibnin, southern Lebanon killed one person and wounded three, describing it as a preliminary toll. The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident. The attack comes a day after Israel bombed severa...| ArabNews
LONDON: Taliban authorities have blocked fiber-optic internet across northern provinces of Afghanistan, claiming the move was necessary “to prevent immoral activities.” Local media report that as many as 10 provinces — including Kunduz, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Takhar, and Balkh — have been affected, leaving government offices, businesses, public institutions, and homes without fiber-optic access. The ban applies only to connections via fiber-optic cable, while mobile internet remains ava...| ArabNews
BERLIN: A conservative party in Germany’s governing coalition said Friday it would temporarily block aid promised to the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank over concerns the cash could be used against Israel. Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) had pledged 30 million euros ($35 million) for the Palestinian Authority after a trip to the region last month. But Alexander Hoffmann, parliamentary leader of the conservative CSU party, t...| ArabNews
THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice said on Friday that Mali’s application for a case against neighboring Algeria over the shooting down of a Malian military drone could only proceed if Algeria accepts the court’s jurisdiction. Mali’s accusation that Algeria deliberately shot down the drone along their shared desert border during the night of March 31 to April 1 led to a diplomatic crisis.| ArabNews
BAGHDAD: The Iraqi counterterrorism service said on Friday that a senior Daesh leader was killed in a security operation in Syria carried out in coordination with the US-led international coalition. The commander, Omar Abdul Qader Bassam, known as “Abdul Rahman Al-Halabi,” was the group’s head of external operations and security, the service said. He was accused of overseeing attacks in multiple countries, including the bombing of Iran’s embassy in Lebanon, and planning other operatio...| Arab News
The Iranian regime has long claimed that its nuclear program is only meant for peaceful purposes, rather than to obtain nuclear weapons. It believes that the world should accept its claim because Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has in the past issued a fatwa forbidding the production or use of nuclear weapons.| Arab News
SYDNEY/LONDON: Global stocks fell on Friday after US President Donald Trump ramped up his tariff war against Canada, leaving Europe squarely in the firing line, sparking a modest investor push into safe havens like gold, while bitcoin hit a new record high. The Canadian dollar fell after Trump issued a letter late on Thursday that stated a 35 percent tariff rate on all imports from Canada would apply from August 1, adding the EU would receive a letter by Friday.| Arab News
LONDON: When Imam Mohammed bin Saud found himself thrust into the spotlight of history upon the death of his father in 1725, few could have foreseen the transformation in the fortunes of central Arabia that the next ruler of the emirate of Diriyah was destined to bring about. Born in Diriyah in about 1679, Imam Mohammed came into a world that had not changed significantly for hundreds of years.| Arab News
