As tensions escalate between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric, countries such as ours will be reluctant to take sides.

Looking back at economies impacted from major world events in 2015.

The September stampede during the hajj in Saudi Arabia killed at least 2,411 pilgrims, a new Associated Press count shows.

State-linked development companies in the Red Sea port of Jeddah have agreed to pony up the money for a skyscraper flirting with the unprecedented 1km mark.

"A truck carrying what first seemed to be normal cans of the soft drink Pepsi was stopped and after the standard process of searching the products, it became clear that the alcoholic beers were covered with Pepsi's sticker logos,"

One of Saudi Arabia's most prominent billionaires has gained legal immunity in Britain since his appointment as a Caribbean diplomat representing the island nation of St Lucia.

At a workshop on a summer day in Riyadh, prospective candidates in local elections are limbering up. One wants to help kids, one to improve living conditions in the Saudi capital, another to become a political role model.

Taxpayer money will be spent on an abattoir that could be gifted to Saudi Arabia - part of a deal done partly to secure a free-trade deal with Gulf states.

The Labour Party has asked the Auditor-General and Treasury to investigate Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully over a deal made with a Saudi businessman.

Whatever his shortcomings in executing the war, Saddam felt he had saved the Gulf sheikdoms and was worthy of greater respect, writes Tom Clifford.

Unconvincing explanations for settling live sheep export grievance should not hurt New Zealand's clean reputation, writes John Roughan.

A controversial deal that saw $11.5 million in taxpayer money spent on a businessman's private farm in Saudi Arabia was opposed by the Treasury, documents show.

Documents reveal a briefing from NZ Trade and Enterprise warned ministers about sending breeding sheep to Saudi in the latter half of 2014.

The only way of proving or disproving the Prime Minister's claim that the papers would embarrass Labour is, obviously, the release of unredacted versions.

The best Kiwi farmers would have struggled with the conditions that led to a very high death rate among lambs from pregnant ewes sent to a farm in Saudi Arabia, a company involved in the operation says.

Herald political editor Audrey Young sets out the case for the Foreign Minister losing his job over the $11m Saudi sheep deal.

It’s difficult to see how Key can axe his foreign minister without also turning focus back on his entire Cabinet, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Try as they might, Labour and NZ First failed to turn the Great Saudi Sheep Saga into the Great Saudi Sheep Scandal, writes John Roughan.

Phill Goff says there is nothing in the papers to embarrass Labour nor is there any reference to a "commercial solution" as Mr Key suggested.

Murray McCully's controversial $10m deal bypassed the normal Govt control channels, writes Fran O'Sullivan. "The deal is now being challenged as an outright bribe."

Phil Goff and Jim Anderton challenge John Key to release any documents he has suggesting the Labour-Progressive Government considered settling a grievance with a Saudi investor.

If NZ taxpayers have provided a businessman with a sheep farm in compensation for his loss, it raises many more questions than Minister Murray McCully has been inclined to answer.

Murray McCully's secret Saudi deal is attracting far too much adverse comment on the international stage to be easily swept under the carpet, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Claims of corruption, bribery and lies are being made about the Government’s unorthodox scheme of flying sheep to Saudi Arabia, writes Bryce Edwards.

A threat of legal action being used to partly justify nearly $12 million spent on a Saudi businessman's farm was clearly hollow, Labour says.