AP, Duba
Heavy rains have closed Abu Dhabi’s international airport and shut schools in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi International Airport, home to Etihad airline, announced the flight suspension today on Twitter “due to severe weather conditions.
KSA exchanges prisoners with Houthis
Reuters, Dubai
Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it exchanged prisoners with its foes in Yemen’s Houthi movement and that a calm was holding along their border, in signs of unprecedented progress to end their 11-month war. The statement on state news agency SPA said Yemeni tribal mediators had facilitated the release of seven Yemenis held by the kingdom in exchange for a detained Saudi lieutenant.
Sharif leaves for Saudi Arabia
Dawn.com, Islamabad
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif left for Saudi Arabia on a three-day official visit Wednesday to hold ‘important talks with the Saudi leadership,’ reported Radio Pakistan. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi are also accompanying the premier, who is visiting the kingdom on the invitation of King Salman to witness the military exercise ‘Thunder of the North’.
Khatami urges lifting of restrictions
AFP, Tehran
Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami, who is under a media ban for supporting reformist candidates in the 2009 presidential election, on Tuesday urged fewer restrictions and a more open atmosphere.
The comments, in a statement published on Khatami’s website, follow an influential strategic role he played in February 26 elections in which reformists won many parliamentary seats.
IS commander ‘likely killed’ in US air strike
AFP, Washington
The Islamic State group’s battle-tested equivalent of a defense minister is believed to have been killed in a US air strike in northeastern Syria, a US official said.
