Mahesh babu
No comments
Kuwait bans visa issuance to five nationalities
Nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan banned from entering Kuwait
Kuwait has banned nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan from entering the country, local media have reported.
The ban includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, immigration sources said, quoted by Kuwaiti media on Saturday.
They attributed the blanket visa ban to the "difficult security conditions in the five countries" and to "the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by the local authorities to Kuwait."
The sources said the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application would be tolerated, but added that the ban was temporarily and would be lifted after the security situation stabilised.
Last month, a social affairs and labour official denied reports that Kuwait was planning to impose a ban on issuing visas to nationals from the five countries
Manal al sheriff, Saudi woman Re-arrested for driving
In a tough setback for aspiring Saudi female drivers, Saudi police have arrested female activist Manal al-Sharif, who boldly posted a video of herself behind the wheel online on Friday.
More than 600,000 people watched the video of al-Sharif chatting with a friend as she drives around the eastern Saudi city of Khobar. The seemingly mundane scene is in fact anything but.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women — both Saudi and foreign — from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.
Al-Sharif was reportedly arrested on May 22 while driving, released for a few hours then taken back into custody. A Saudi security official said she is being accused of “violating public order”, and will be held for five days while the case is investigated. The video she made was removed from you tube following her arrest, as was the face book page . she created calling on Saudi women to collectively defy the driving ban on June 17.
Nevertheless, a new face book page was created almost immediately, and the video survived on video sharing site YouTube, re-posted by Al-Sharif’s supporters.