Except for the machine guns and guard towers, the al-Hair high-security prison for terrorists looks remarkably like a hotel - especially the conjugal-visit wing.

Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger whose punishment of 1000 lashes prompted international condemnation, may now face the death penalty.

Enjoy low oil prices while they last, though how long that will be is anyone's guess, writes Brian Fallow.

A Saudi historian has sparked outrage by claiming Western women drive cars because they do not care if they are “raped by the roadside”.

Saudi officials deny they blurred out US First Lady Michelle Obama, but her decision not to wear a headscarf, and don blue, not black at the late King's funeral, is controversial.

The things you have to do to keep on side with your oil merchant, writes Brian Rudman. Wouldn't a card and pohutukawa blossoms been enough for the Saudi king?

Did the PM realise it would happen as Auckland was celebrating its 175th anniversary? The tribute to the King that he issued suggests his advisers were not giving much thought to the gestures.

He ruled over one of the most repressive regimes in the world - so why were the flags on the Harbour Bridge flying at half mast for the late Saudi King?

Late Saudi King Abdullah was hailed as "a strong advocate for women" - so why are four of his daughters reportedly under house arrest?

The international outcry over restrictions on freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia escalated as an array of Nobel prizewinners published an open letter calling on the country's academics to condemn the public flogging of the blogger Raif Badawi.

The oil price decline of 2014 upended the geopolitical chessboard. Worth watching in 2015 will be who can recover and dominate play - Opec, Vladimir Putin or US shale drillers.

The site in Mecca where the Prophet Mohamed is said to have been born is about to be "buried under marble".

Saudi Arabia will need to keep cutting oil output to sustain prices above $100 a barrel as global oil demand weakens, analysts say.

Saudi Arabia is removing barriers on one of the world's most-restricted major stock exchanges as the government tries to boost non-oil industries.

Saudi Arabia has warned against Western or regional intervention in Iraq, as the country's ambassador to London joined international calls for a new government to be established in Baghdad.

A prominent Saudi cleric has sparked outrage by saying that online conversations between men and women are religiously forbidden.

The royal put on a particularly awkward display when he indulged in a spot of knife dancing at the start of his three-day tour of the Middle East.

With no meaningful public transport system and a ban on women drivers, getting to school in Saudi Arabia is a challenge beyond many students.

Iran hopes to use a meeting of Opec oil ministers today as a launch pad for its return as a dominant force in global crude markets after months of sanctions.

Around 150 clerics and religious scholars held a rare protest outside the Saudi king's palace on against fresh efforts by women seeking the right to drive, highlighting the struggle faced by reformers in the ultraconservative kingdom.

Saudi women on the ultraconservative kingdom's top advisory council have called for a discussion on the sensitive issue of allowing women to drive.

As millions of Muslim pilgrims prepare to converge on holy sites in Saudi Arabia this [northern] autumn, the global health community is anxiously monitoring an outbreak of a respiratory virus known as Mers.

A "celebrity" Saudi preacher accused of raping and torturing his 5-year-old daughter to death has been released from custody after agreeing to pay "blood money".

Saudi Arabia drew widespread censure yesterday as it ignored personal pleas from the Sri Lankan President and executed a migrant worker.