Current World Issues

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has replaced some of its top military officers in a series of personnel changes that elevate a younger generation bring a woman into a senior government job and tighten Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s grip on power. In a reshuffle announced late on Monday, the military chief of staff, air defense and land forces heads and senior defense and interior ministry officials were removed. Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah became deputy labor minister, a rare high-level job for a woman in the deeply conservative kingdom. The crown prince, who at 32 is also defense minister and heir apparent, has promised reforms to wean Saudi Arabia off oil exports, create jobs and open up Saudis’ cloistered lifestyles. Since rising to prominence three years ago, he has also removed a number of apparent rivals to the throne. His cousin Mohammed bin Nayef was ousted as crown prince and interior minister in a palace coup last June, after which Prince Mohammed restructured...

The United Nations says it is alarmed by "the extreme escalation in hostilities" in Syria's Eastern Ghouta and called for "immediate" end to the bombardment of the rebel-held area that has left more than 100 people dead since Sunday. "The recent escalation of violence compounds an already precarious humanitarian situation," Panos Moumtzis, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday. "It's imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now." At least 20 children are among those killed in the incessant air raids and artillery fired by Syrian government forces on the Damascus suburb home to some 400,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Over 300 people have suffered wounds, the London-based monitoring group said on Tuesday. "Warplanes have not stopped soaring over...

"You know, you hang with your friends in the town centre. The police can stop you several times in an evening. You can stand here, and get stopped, be pushed against a wall for everyone to see. You walk towards your school - you get stopped again. We feel followed." "I had just arrived at the festival. A person grabs me from the back. When someone grabs you, you react. The police thought I was resisting. He threw me on the ground, put his knee on my back, and I screamed. He called me the N-word. That was what hurt the most."  "Frustration, hate, irritation, humiliation and oppression. Being subjected to discrimination. These are the feelings I get every time I get stopped. Even if you are innocent, and haven't done anything, you get scared, stressed." "It was an ordinary evening, nothing special. All of a sudden, a police car stops in front of us. They jump out and push us against the car. It happened without any reason. None of us had any...