Riyadh - The editorial and advisory team of the "Voice of Saudi Women" website Wednesday said the Saudi Telecommunications Authority had blocked its site, saying the action did not fit the authority's role "as being responsible for providing knowledge and openness to the world."

"This action makes the authority just another dark force that stands against anyone who wants to move forward with our homeland," the group said in a statement published on a different website, Afaq, which means "horizon" in Arabic.

London, Sep 28 : The Taliban has been engaged in secret talks about ending the conflict in Afghanistan in a wide-ranging ‘peace process’ sponsored by Saudi Arabia and supported by Britain.

The unprecedented negotiations involve a senior former member of the hardline Islamist movement traveling between Kabul, the bases of the Taliban senior leadership in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European capitals, The Guardian reported. 

Britain has provided logistic and diplomatic support for the talks despite official statements that negotiations can be held only with Taliban who are ready to renounce, or have renounced, violence. 

Riyadh - An Australian woman trapped in Saudi Arabia because of the fallout from a divorce case is being given "all possible consular assistance," the Australian ambassador was quoted Sunday as saying.

"Our consular staff are committed and are extending all necessary support to to the woman," Ambassador R. Kevin Magee told the Arab News daily.

The mother-of-four has complained the Australian government is not helping her.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Department reportedly told the woman two months ago it could not help her in winning custody of her children, the newspaper wrote.

The husband, also an Australian citizen, has reportedly filed for custody of the children in a Saudi court.

Riyadh - A Saudi religious scholar says it is better for engaged couples to meet through web cameras than to have face-to-face contact, Saudi local media reported Thursday.

The webcam acts as a "shield" between couples and this is much preferable from a religious point of view, according to Abdel Mohsen al-Abikan, Consultant of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Justice.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) finance ministers on Wednesday approved proposals to set up a monetary union, but the timing of the launch of a single currency was not revealed.

"We have an agreement to set up the monetary union and the monetary council, as well as the basic structure," Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal, who chaired the meeting of GCC countries in the Western Saudi city of Jeddah, told reporters.

London, Sept. 16: A former Saudi diplomat-turned cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Munajid, has described Walt Disney cartoon character Mickey Mouse as "one of Satan''s soldiers" who turns everything around it impure.

The cleric, who worked with the Saudi embassy in Washington D C, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed.