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Five Key Social Reforms Under Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince

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This handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) in the capital Riyadh, on December 8, 2022. – Chinese President Xi Jinping met Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince on an Arab outreach visit that will yield billions of dollars in deals and has earned a rebuke from Washington. (Photo by BANDAR AL-JALOUD / various sources / AFP)

The decision by Saudi Arabia to allow alcohol sales to non-Muslim diplomats, according to two sources, is the latest in a series of reforms aimed at projecting a more open, moderate image.

Here are five other headline-grabbing changes implemented in recent years under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose reputation was dealt a major blow by the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

 Cinemas reopened

In April 2018, “Black Panther” was the first film to be shown in Saudi Arabia in 35 years when the country lifted a ban imposed on cinemas by its clerics in the 1970s.

Riyadh said it planned to open up over 300 cinemas by 2030.

Like TV programmes, films are however subject to rigorous selection and censorship to avoid portrayals of sex, religion or politics.

Women at the wheel

In June 2018, Saudi Arabia lifted a decades-long ban on women driving — the only one of its kind in the world which left women dependent on men for mobility.

 

Since 2018, thousands of women have slipped behind the wheel, with some going on to become mechanics and taxi drivers.

 

The euphoria created by the move was dented however by a major crackdown on many of the women activists who had previously campaigned to lift the ban.

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Travel without male ‘guardian’

In 2019, Saudi women aged 21 or more were allowed to apply for a passport and travel abroad without first obtaining the consent of a male “guardian” — husband, father or other male relative.

The move marked a significant loosening of the controversial guardianship system, under which men exercise near-total authority over women.

 

Tourists welcome

In a bid to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and diversify the economy, Saudi Arabia in September 2019 began opening up to tourism — its so-called “white oil” — for the first time.

 

Until then Saudi Arabia had only issued visas to Muslim pilgrims, expatriate workers, or, from 2018, people attending sporting and cultural events.

Prince Mohammed a year earlier had announced a massive tourism project to turn 50 islands and a string of sites on the Red Sea into luxury resorts.

Tourists who flout the country’s rules on modest attire risk heavy fines however.

 Gender mixing

Long forbidden, men and women have in recent years been allowed to mingle in public.

Women were allowed enter a football stadium to watch a match for the first time in 2018 and can now also attend concerts alongside men.

They also no longer need fear the stick-wielding guardians of public morality in order to bathe together at some beaches, and rules on the wearing of abaya robes have been relaxed.

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Women, who had previously been restricted to a handful of careers, mainly in health and education, now also rub shoulders with men in the workplace.

Millions of women have entered the job market since 2016, becoming  bankers, shoe sellers, business owners and border officers, among other professions.

 

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Metro

Nightclub killing in Ogbomoso confirmed by Police; officers detained

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The Oyo State Police Command has confirmed the killing of one Iyanfa Damilola at a nightclub in Ogbomoso on Monday and also detained officers involved in the incident.

Police operatives were dispatched to the nightclub at the “Under G” area, Owode Ogbomoso, while the 16th convocation of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) was going on after a distress call over a fighting incident in the place.

But the Oyo State Police Command spokesman Osifeso Adewale said the fracas worsened, leading to the firing of “warning shots” by the officers. This led to one death.

“The incident recorded the death of one Iyanda Damilola, ‘m’, and the injury of his brother one Iyanda Femi Isreal, who has since been discharged from the hospital after treatment,” Osifeso said in a Thursday statement.

“All operatives involved in the incident including Inspr Rasheed Saheed are currently under detention at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku,” he added.

According to him, the police commissioner in Oyo Adebola Hamzat has ordered that the case be “taken up by the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department with the Deputy Commissioner of Police directly in charge of the investigations”.

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Photos: Four Injured in Collision on Ibadan-Abeokuta -Omi-Adio Expressway

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No fewer than four passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries in an auto crash on the Ibadan, Omi-Adio-Abeokuta Expressway, according to reports from Mega Icon Magazine.

The incident, which unfolded on Monday, involved a Volkswagen Golf car and a tricycle, commonly known as Keke Marwa, colliding at the Command area along the road, in the Ido local government area of Oyo state.

Eyewitnesses recounted to our reporter that the Volkswagen car, driven by an individual with mobility impairments or difficulties with his legs, suspected to be from an accident, was traveling from Apata to Omi-Adio when it veered off the road and collided with the tricycle heading towards Apata shortly after 6:00 p.m.

Four individuals, including the tricycle driver, were injured in the accident, while three occupants of the Volkswagen Golf, including a one-year-old baby, escaped unharmed.

Promptly responding to the scene, officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) swiftly took action, transporting the injured victims to an undisclosed hospital at the time of press.

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Tragic Accident Claims Lives of Siblings in Ondo 

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In a devastating incident along the Ibi-Mango area in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, two siblings met a tragic end as they were reportedly crushed to death by a truck.

 

The fatal accident occurred at 10:25 am on Saturday when the victims, riding on a motorcycle, collided with a truck loaded with sand.

 

According to an eyewitness at the scene, the siblings lost control of their motorcycle, leading to a collision with the oncoming truck along the Okitipupa route. The impact of the crash resulted in the untimely demise of the siblings.

 

Confirming the incident, Ezekiel Son-Allah, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ondo State, attributed the cause of the accident to overspeeding by the victims.

 

Son-Allah urged motorists and motorcyclists to prioritise safety on the highways by avoiding overspeeding and dangerous overtaking maneuvers.

 

The bodies of the victims were swiftly transported to the General Hospital Mortuary in Ore, as disclosed by the FRSC boss.

 

Also, the vehicles involved in the tragic collision were handed over to the police of the Ore Division for further investigation.

 

 

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