The idea that Arab monarchies enjoy greater legitimacy and stability than their republican neighbours should finally be put to rest. Protests in Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain may not have yet reached the scale of those in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Syria, but the weekly gatherings have persisted for months and... » read this article

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia must stop the use of the death penalty following a "significant increase" in executions in the kingdom in the last six weeks, Amnesty International said Friday. At least 27 people have been executed in the top oil exporter in 2011, equalling the total number of... » read this article

Twice during the past week senior United States officials have let it be known that the Barack Obama administration has chosen to adopt a highly selective approach to the ferment in the Middle East. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton couched the message in appropriate diplomatic idiom in Washington... » read this article

Editor's Note: The author writes, "Washington fears that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon and wants its allies well armed to thwart possible aggression by Iran." It's not Iran's "nuclear weapon", Jonathan Cook, as surely you must know. It's the $30 billion from Saudi for the Boeing Company and the... » read this article

  Migrant workers who move to Saudi Arabia in the hope of a better life and a higher income can instead expect to be faced with torture, unfair trials and forced confessions if they are accused of crimes, according to a scathing Human Rights Watch report released yesterday. The report,... » read this article

  Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who rules Saudi Arabia in place of his ailing half-brother, King Fahd, is sitting under huge crystal chandeliers in a luxurious hall the size of a football pitch, listening to the problems and complaints of his subjects. In the middle of a... » read this article

  The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were probably selected as targets days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, United States and Saudi officials said. Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped... » read this article

  The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were probably selected as targets days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, United States and Saudi officials said. Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped... » read this article

  Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like a society under siege. At Riyadh's trendiest shopping mall on a quiet afternoon last month, security officers were stopping vehicles entering the parking garage, opening hoods and trunks in search of explosives. At the Marriott Hotel, near the Petroleum Ministry, and at... » read this article

  Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like a society under siege. At Riyadh's trendiest shopping mall on a quiet afternoon last month, security officers were stopping vehicles entering the parking garage, opening hoods and trunks in search of explosives. At the Marriott Hotel, near the Petroleum Ministry, and at... » read this article

  Last autumn I visited a Sufi shrine just outside Peshawar in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan. Rahman Baba was a 17th-century mystic poet, and his tomb has for centuries been a place where musicians and poets have gathered. A friend who lived nearby in the 1980s advised... » read this article

  Last autumn I visited a Sufi shrine just outside Peshawar in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan. Rahman Baba was a 17th-century mystic poet, and his tomb has for centuries been a place where musicians and poets have gathered. A friend who lived nearby in the 1980s advised... » read this article

  KARACHI - The recent spate of militant attacks in Saudi Arabia has largely been attributed to the work of al-Qaeda, and some cells purporting to represent the terror organization have even claimed responsibility for some of the bloodshed. However, intelligence sources of Pakistani origin in Saudi Arabia tell Asia... » read this article

  KARACHI - The recent spate of militant attacks in Saudi Arabia has largely been attributed to the work of al-Qaeda, and some cells purporting to represent the terror organization have even claimed responsibility for some of the bloodshed. However, intelligence sources of Pakistani origin in Saudi Arabia tell Asia... » read this article

Long before the latest violence erupted, Saudi Arabia's immaculately suited spokesmen were out on the stump, telling anyone who would listen that the situation in the country was completely under control. They're now doing it again - only this time nobody believes them. All the signs suggest that in the... » read this article

Long before the latest violence erupted, Saudi Arabia's immaculately suited spokesmen were out on the stump, telling anyone who would listen that the situation in the country was completely under control. They're now doing it again - only this time nobody believes them. All the signs suggest that in the... » read this article

    The bloody attacks on foreigners in Khobar, the center of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, were apparently carried out by four young men. The attackers were methodical, efficient and, up to a point, even polite. They asked potential victims their religion and, if satisfied that they were Muslims, asked... » read this article

    The bloody attacks on foreigners in Khobar, the center of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, were apparently carried out by four young men. The attackers were methodical, efficient and, up to a point, even polite. They asked potential victims their religion and, if satisfied that they were Muslims, asked... » read this article

  KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Thirty-five people, mostly foreigners, have been killed over the past six weeks in a dramatic, new style of terror attacks for this kingdom: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an... » read this article

  KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Thirty-five people, mostly foreigners, have been killed over the past six weeks in a dramatic, new style of terror attacks for this kingdom: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an... » read this article