Saudi Arabia has expanded its new tourist visa system, according to media reports. Following an announcement last month, citizens from 49 countries were initially eligible for online e-visas or visas on arrival, including the United States, Australia, several European nations, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, China and Kazakhstan. This has now been extended to nationals of other countries holding a valid commercial or a tourist visa issued by the US, the UK or the European Union's Schengen visa, reported leading Arabic daily Okaz. Others looking to visit Saudi Arabia can approach Saudi missions for a tourist visa provided they attach to their applications a return ticket, a residence booking in the kingdom, financial status and address in the home country, according to the report.

The United States Department of Education has recently been incensed by a Middle East studies programme run by two major American universities. Why? Let us explore.   You will have to read a bit further down the report to discover that what the US Department of Education, led by Betsy DeVos, is really concerned about is the programme's supposed "anti-Israeli bias". President Donald Trump's civil rights chief in the Department of Education, Kenneth L Marcus, it seems, is now leading a campaign to make all US universities Israel-friendly. Marcus is a Zionist crusader who, as the New York Times puts it, "has made a career of pro-Israel advocacy and has waged a years long campaign to delegitimize

A town in the central Philippines has replaced an almost all-male police force with women officers. It is part of a wider government effort at promoting women in the workplace. Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from Maria in Siquijor province.

After US President Donald Trump abandoned Kurdish allies and gave the green light for Turkey's incursion in Syria, the pushback from usually uncritical Republicans saw the president attempting to row back on his decision. He said he would "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if it does anything "that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits". What he meant by off limits was not clear. But the threat was enough to send the lira lower. So, is it possible for Trump to obliterate the economy? Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, comments on Trump's threats of sanctions against Turkey and the main reason for the country's decline into a recession: "Already

Egypt's Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr stated on Friday that her country is keen to attract more South Korean investments, because of its efficiency in transferring industrial technology, increasing the added value of its industries, sustaining its growth and export competitiveness. In a meeting with a delegation of 20 South Korean companies at the end of their visit to Egypt, in the presence of the South Korean Ambassador to Cairo Yoon Yeocheol, Nasr said that the success stories of Korean companies operating in Egypt should be translated into new investments and expansions. She reviewed recent amendments to the investment law, from which Korean investments will

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday to develop more advanced and modern weapons, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, amid rising regional tensions. “The Guards should have advanced and modern weapons ... It should be developed at home. You need to develop and produce your weapons,” Khamenei said in a speech at Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran. Last Update: Sunday, 13 October 2019 KSA 13:18 - GMT 10:18