Thick fog wrapped the peaks and terraced slopes of Shada Al-Asfal Mountain in Al-Baha, creating a breathtaking scene as rain clouds drifted across the landscape. Lightning lit up the skies over Tihama while waterfalls poured down mountainsides into lush valleys below. As sunset colors blended with mist and low-hanging clouds, the mountain revealed one of its most captivating faces. Captured by SPA, the images showcase the dramatic interplay of rain, light, greenery, and rugged peaks that make S
MELBOURNE: An Australian appeals court on Friday ordered Erin Patterson to never be released from prison because of the “shocking criminality” involved in poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms. The three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeal upheld prosecutors’ challenge to the leniency of her 33-year non-parole sentence. “This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms,” Justice Stephen McLeis
RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman held separate calls with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and his counterparts from Canada, Germany and Spain to discuss defense cooperation and regional developments, including Houthi attacks against the Kingdom.In a post on X, Prince Khalid said he and Rutte reviewed aspects of defense cooperation and discussed coordination on regional developments to promote regional and international security and stability.They also discussed other top
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing and far-right bloc emerged ahead of the opposition in the country's general election but fell well short of a parliamentary majority, according to final official results released early Friday, amid unsubstantiated claims by his Likud party that the vote had been "stolen." The Central Elections Committee said Netanyahu's coalition won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, with Likud remaining the largest single party with 27 seats. T
TOKYO: Top-ranked Elena Rybakina secured the year-end No. 1 ranking with a last-16 win at the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday, while Naomi Osaka lost in front of her home crowd. Rybakina beat Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals and will stay the world No. 1 at the conclusion of a year in which she won two Grand Slams — the Australian Open and the US Open. Having won Wimbledon in 2022, Rybakina — a 27-year-old born in Russia but representing Kazakhstan — is only a French Open t
TOKYO: Philippine sensation Alexandra Eala came from behind to beat Talia Gibson 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in Tokyo on Wednesday and said “it took a lot to turn that match around.” The world number 19’s recent run of early tournament exits looked in danger of continuing when Australia’s Gibson, ranked 38, took the first set at the Pan Pacific Open. But Eala dug in and evened the match before hitting top gear in a dominating third set. The 21-year-old said the turnaround had been “a gradual increase of level
KYIV: Ukraine has reportedly suspended strikes on Russian oil refineries following pressure from US President Donald Trump, even as Russian forces continued pounding Ukrainian cities, killing at least 20 people in a wave of drone and missile attacks, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian units carrying out long-range strikes were told in mid-October that the campaign against refineries was effectively on hold once missions already in motion were completed, the Wall Street Journal rep
Legendary actor Patrick Stewart passed away at 86 due to Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia. He was acclaimed for his roles in ‘Star Trek’ and ‘X-Men’.
A vessel transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz was on fire following an incident on Thursday, 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s Khasab, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said. The cause of the fire was unknown, and the status of the crew, extent of damage and environmental impact were also unknown, UKMTO said, citing a third-party report.
The UN refugee agency highlights the need for extra winter assistance for nine million people across Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan, seeking $50 million in donations.
Democrats, election officials and voting rights groups have long wondered whether President Donald Trump, upon his return to the Oval Office, would again attempt to overturn an election when his party is trailing. It’s no longer hypothetical. Trump’s Department of Justice issued subpoenas in probes of a Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska on Thursday, and subpoenas were issued Oct. 21 and Oct. 24 to election officials in California. The agency had already pursued civil actions there that were
MONTREAL: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the European Union’s top official pushed Thursday to make Canada the bloc’s first “associate member” and build a broader alliance open to other countries as they warned of threats to sovereignty from economic coercion during US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Speaking in Montreal on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would form the core of the proposed “Alliance for the Future,” but other lik
LONDON: Lebanon’s leaders are looking to US-mediated diplomacy in an effort to avert another war with Israel, even as Israeli forces remain in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah refuses to surrender its weapons. This leaves authorities in Beirut with little control over the decisions that could plunge the country back into conflict. Caught between Israeli demands for security guarantees and Hezbollah’s insistence that its arsenal is essential for efforts to resist occupation, the Lebanese government
WASHINGTON: A Syrian man was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Thursday for his role in computer hacking on behalf of the regime of former Syrian president Bashar Assad, the US Justice Department said. Ahmad Umar Agha, 32, and co-conspirators hacked Western media outlets, businesses, non-governmental organizations and US and allied government entities “to spread the former Syrian government’s propaganda,” the department said in a statement. The hacking group known as the Syrian Electronic A
Israel’s Arab parties have emerged as potential kingmakers after securing a record 19 seats in the Knesset, but turning their electoral gains into political influence may prove far harder than winning the votes. A surge in turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel has complicated the calculations of rival blocs led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, neither of which has an easy route to a governing majority. Exit polls on Tuesday night initially put Eisenkot’s anti-Netany
JERUSALEM: There was growing anger among Arab political parties in Israel on Thursday after unsubstantiated claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that unprecedented Arab gains in this week’s Knesset elections were driven by foreign funding. Parties representing Israel’s 21 percent Arab minority won 19 seats in the 120-member parliament, Netyanhu’s bloc won 53, and his main rival Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats. The results mean that neither of the two main coalitions can form a government with
NEW YORK: Viral meningitis is spreading in the Gaza Strip, the UN warned on Thursday. Overcrowding, battered water and sanitation networks and shortages of essential treatments are driving up the risk of transmission across the enclave. Acute respiratory infections remained the most prevalent health condition reported in Gaza in September, UN associate spokesperson Shirin Yaseen said, citing a World Health Organization report. “To scale up services, we once more call for the lifting of restricti
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