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[00:10.10]Hi. I'm Carl Azuz, delivering 10 minutes of international current events.
[00:15.58]At the midpoint of the week, we're starting with news about Iran.
[00:18.34]The Middle Eastern country tested out a number of ballistic missiles yesterday
[00:22.11] that has the international community,
[00:24.15] including the U.S., concern because it might break a United Nations resolution.
[00:29.80]It calls on Iran not to develop missiles that could carry nuclear weapons.
[00:33.83]Iran says it doesn't have nuclear weapons
[00:36.43]and that this missile launch only tested conventional weapons.
[00:40.09]But a U.S. government source said the U.N. Security Council
[00:43.48] might investigate the launch and consider action against Iran.
[00:47.52]The Obama administration says the test did not violate
[00:51.01]a controversial nuclear deal with Iran that the U.S. led last year.
[00:55.28]Our next story, the U.S. military
[00:57.11]says a terrorist group in Africa took a major hit over the weekend.
[01:00.95]Al Shabaab, which is based in the East African nation of Somalia,
[01:05.03]was a target of a U.S. airstrike.
[01:07.14]American officials say the Islamic militant group had about 200 fighters
[01:12.00]at a camp and that they posed an imminent threat because they were planning
[01:15.86]some type of a major attack,
[01:17.37]possibly targeting American and African Union military forces in Somalia.
[01:22.52]But in Saturday's airstrike, U.S. authorities believe
[01:25.22]as many as 150 al Shabaab members were killed by drones and manned aircraft.
[01:31.07]An official from al Shabaab disputes that number, saying only a few fighters died in the assault.
[01:37.00]Either way, the strike, while destructive, is not expected to eliminate the threat from these terrorists.
[01:42.94]The terror group al Shabaab is becoming deadlier and more ambitious.
[01:46.88]Al-Shabaab means "the youth" in Arabic,
[01:54.21] and it's a group that's risen out of the chaos of the failed state of Somalia.
[01:58.42]The irony is, as it's gained more international prominence,
[02:03.12] it's actually ground at home due to infighting within the group,
[02:06.66] successful operations by government forces, but also drone strikes by the U.S.
[02:10.94]At the same time, though, it's become more aggressive abroad,
[02:13.90]particularly in September 2013,
[02:16.65]when it carried out the Westgate Mall attack which killed more than 60 people.
[02:20.35]More recently, in April,
[02:22.65]the attack at Garissa University in Kenya that killed more than 150.
[02:26.94]Like ISIS, al-Shabaab has a powerful presence on the Web,
[02:31.30]particularly in terms of recruiting.
[02:33.46]An added threat are al-Shabaab's deep ties to the U.S.
[02:38.05]A number of Somali Americans have gone to Somalia to join the ranks of al-Shabaab.
[02:42.56]Some of them have become suicide bombers.
[02:45.28]A man from Alabama, Omar Hammami, became the rapping jihadi,
[02:48.14]powerful in their recruiting videos, though he was later killed.
[02:51.32]U.S. counterterror officials are seeing more communication,
[02:54.75]as well as the sharing of knowhow
[02:56.87]and technology between al-Shabaab and other al Qaeda-
[02:59.52]tied groups such as AQAP in Yemen,
[03:02.66]and they say a credible next step would be cooperation on joint terror operations abroad.
[03:07.26]For a long time, al-Shabaab has been seen primarily as a domestic threat in Somalia,
[03:13.04]but more and more, it's seen as an international one.
[03:15.98](END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:16.94]AZUZ: International Women's Day
[03:18.35] is a worldwide event that's been sponsored by the United Nations since 1975.
[03:22.82]But the holiday itself has been celebrated on March 8th, since 1921.
[03:27.83]Women suffrage, their right to vote, was a major catalyst for the event.
[03:32.11]Today, the holiday continues to promote women's rights,
[03:35.49]focusing specifically this year on gender parity,
[03:38.56] achieving worldwide equality for women in areas like education, politics and health.
[03:43.99]Musical performances, marches, rallies, all part of the event yesterday.
[03:48.21]The U.N. says it organized International Women's Day event in dozen of countries from India to Albania.
[03:55.26]In many public areas in Saudi Arabia, women and men are separated.
[04:00.14]It's a country that's been criticized for women's rights, but things there are changing.
[04:04.13]I've spent years covering the Middle East and the Gulf region,
[04:08.77]and the issue of women's rights in Saudi Arabia often comes up.
[04:11.68]The kingdom is an absolute monarchy, ruled by the al-Saud family.
[04:19.63]Now, they govern according to a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.
[04:23.85]Women need a permission of a male guardian to travel,
[04:27.49] to work, to attend higher education or to marry.
[04:31.12]But Saudi Arabia does have a very young population, median age there just 26.
[04:37.64]Many of them that I've spoken to say that the role of women in the country is evolving.
[04:43.67]Now, 2015 marked the first year that Saudi women
[04:45.76]were allowed to campaign for public office and to register to vote at the municipal level.
[04:51.97]And that came two years after the former King Abdullah
[04:54.93] decreed that women must make up at least 20 percent of the Shura Council.
[04:59.77]Now, that is an appointed body that drafts laws and advises the king of many issues.
[05:05.93]More Saudi women are also joining the work force.
[05:08.61]Only about 19 percent of them currently perform paid work, but the Saudi government
[05:13.56]says their numbers have risen considerably from 23,000 in 2004 to over 400,000 in 2014.
[05:22.42]Now, women are still required to cover their hair and wear long clothing in public,
[05:27.30]but in many malls and hotels these days, women are seen without head scarves.
[05:32.37]Perhaps the most visible sign of women's rights in Saudi, or not as the case may be,
[05:38.16] is that they are not allowed to drive.
[05:40.27]All the women I've met there tell me they are often frustrated by the West's focus on this topic,
[05:46.46] and they feel it ignores the other positive steps they say have been made.
[05:51.44]But proponents for change say allowing
[05:54.46] women to drive would be a big step towards opening other doors of opportunity.
