“Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive for 1st time”

Women will be allowed to drive for the first time next summer in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom announced, marking a significant expansion of women's rights in the only the country that barred them from getting behind the wheel. Neither Islamic law nor Saudi traffic law explicitly prohibited women from driving, but they were not issued licenses and were detained if they attempted to drive. Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington and the king's son, said Tuesday that letting women drive is a "huge step forward" and that "society is ready.” To celebrate Tuesday's decree, several Saudi women posted images on social media deleting their ride sharing apps. The announcement came in the form of a royal decree that was reported late Tuesday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency and state TV. The decree indicated that women will not be allowed to drive immediately. A committee will be formed to look into how to implement the new order, which is slated to take effect in June 2018. For years, the kingdom has incrementally granted women more rights and visibility.

In Other News Our favorite fast foods could come back to bite us, according to a report released Wednesday -- and it's not just the extra calories. The new report grades the 25 largest US fast food chains on where they stand on antibiotics. The results are a mixed bag: For the third year in a row, the only two As were awarded to Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread. More companies passed this year than ever before. But 11 of the top 25 chains received an F, having taken "no (discernible) action to reduce use of antibiotics in their supply chains.” Theme park expert Stefan Zwanzger, says that the smartphone in your hand is destroying the very thing you're supposed to be enjoying. And he claims to have the photos to prove it. Zwanzger, AKA The Theme Park Guy, has spent the past decade exploring parks in more than 150 countries. On a recent return journey to locations he visited in 2010 in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, he was struck by how once joyful places were now filled with unhappy-looking people unable to stop staring at their screens. Photos taken in 2017, when compared with similar shots from seven years earlier reveal, he says, the extent to which phones are causing the "zombification of the human spirit."