In a historic first, the Saudi General Directorate of Passports will start recruiting women to work at airports and land border-crossing points across the kingdom and carry a military rank.

According to a media statement released by the General Directorate of Passports, interested applicants must be born and raised in Saudi Arabia and be between 25 and 35 years old. 

All female candidates must be medically qualified for military service and must commit to the specified shifts in any region or province which they may get assigned to.

Among other conditions, the General Directorate of Passports said that all applicants "must be holders of a high-school diploma or equivalent, and must agree to be interviewed according to the specified conditions."

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to diversify the economy beyond oil, mandates increasing the percentage of Saudi women in the workforce by 2030.

Although Saudi Arabia is often criticized internationally for its treatment of women, in the past few years, significant progress has been made.

The kingdom has amended a number of laws in an effort to empower women. These include opening municipal elections to female candidates and making women's verbal consent to marriage mandatory. 

Laws governing travel documents and giving women their right to obtain a passport without male permission were also amended.

In September, Saudi Arabia's leadership also announced that women in the kingdom will finally be given their right to drive. The decision is expected to be fully implemented by June 2018.

The male guardianship system, however, is still seen as a hindrance to women's progress.

In an ironic turn of events, a far-right German politician who was publicly critical and in opposition of Islam has reportedly become Muslim himself.

Arthur Wagner, a former leading member of a far-right party that campaigned against Muslims has recently left the party and converted to Islam.

Wagner was part of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, an anti-immigration group that believes "Islam is not a part of Germany" and has called for banning the Islamic call to prayer.   

He is believed to have become the first AfD member to convert to Islam after joining the party.

The party's September 2017 campaign slogans featured "Islam has no place in Germany" and "Against the Islamisation of Germany," inciting negative sentiments against Muslim refugees living in the country.

AfD has tried to ban the construction of mosques in Germany and suggested that border police shoot refugees and migrants trying to enter the country.

Wagner himself has previously said German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a "huge mistake" by allowing many Muslim refugees into the country, according to German media.

However, in a surprising change of heart, Wagner has confirmed to a Berlin daily that he has taken his Shahada - a declaration of faith in Islam.

According to The Guardian, Wagner is considered the first member of the AfD to have converted to Islam after joining the party, but according to the party's spokesperson, there have been Muslim members in the group.

"It is a private matter," Wagner told national newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

According to Vox, German media reports he has been spending his free time volunteering with Muslim immigrants, which might have changed the way he views Islam.

Wagner, who was previously a part of the Christian Democrats and joined the AfD in 2015, has thus become among the 1.9 percent of the German population that identifies as Muslim.