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When King Salman, Saudi Arabia's new monarch, issued a general amnesty for Saudi "public rights" prisoners on January 29, Saudi activists and observers felt the first glimmer of hope in some time that the kingdom's relentless persecution of peaceful dissidents and human rights activists may be nearing its end.

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets.

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets.

Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are suspected to go head to head in cyber warfare. Wikileaks revealed information that people put on edge in regards to Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals in the Middle East, are involved in a cyber conflict. The nations use cyber attacks to release or leak critical intelligence to affect the outcomes of ongoing military conflicts in the region.

In late February, several hundred Saudi officials, company executives and foreign consultants gathered in a luxury Riyadh hotel to discuss how Saudi Arabia's economy could survive an era of cheap oil.

President Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia today to meet newly crowned King Salman and said in an interview that the U.S. needs to balance its concerns about Saudi human rights with "immediate concerns" such as counterterrorism and regional stability.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest social media markets in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is home to more than 40% of all active Twitter users in the Arab region, So Saudi use of the media is really controlling the Arab region. This article talk more in depth about how saudi arabia is taking over the media of the whole region

While it seems that the country is doing great on a national level, many local and international economic observers have showed their fear over the impact of changes that are affecting Saudi society. The stereotype about Saudi Arabia thats everybody is rich but not really. Saudi Arabia has middle class that struggle sometimes.

The following link discusses vaguely and in general what life is like in Saudi Arabia including what entertainment is like, the limitations on women, societal norms, and culture. I was surprised to read that human activity is not allowed to be depicted in art.

The following link is a blog entitled Saudi Women Driving. The blog posts about issues regarding the law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. The first blog post currently on the page is about a television interview with a man with extreme views on this law. He went as far as to say that not allowing women to drive is to protect them from the possibility of being raped if their car ever broke down.

This Article explain how Saudi Arabia is moving toward Political succession and also talks about that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has passed away after nearly 10 years as the country's top leader. "King Abdullah isn't a reformer but a modernist. There's a difference," Ali Alyami, director of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, told Al Jazeera. He has empower saudi's women in so many ways. which is illustrated in toward the end of the article .

The saudi king never promised his people democracy.However, he promised them a better life. This great article, makes you think that by giving the young saudis better life and free abroad education in one step toward democracy that never been promised.

This report discusses the conditions of the media in Saudi Arabia. It claims that in 2012 Saudi Arabia media environment "remained among the most repressive the the world." It also talked about the fact that their government justified this repression by saying that it violated the Islamic Sharia law. This brought up and interesting point, because I had never thought about freedom of speech and religious freedom being linked in this regard.

Rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were given fresh fuel Monday with both sides issuing tit-for-tat verbal volleys. Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have been trading blows in an escalating war of words since Saturday following the former's move to execute prominent Shiite opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Iran's Shiite leaders blasted the Sunni kingdom verbally, while protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy.

Recently the Saudi Ministry of Defense website was cyber attacked via DDoS. Tensions between Iran and Saudi are evident as a back and forth of cyber attacks exchange. The attack is alleged to be a form of protest as Saudi continues its executions of people on charges of terrorism.

One of Saudi Arabia's most prominent female human rights campaigners has been arrested and jailed for allegedly running a Twitter account. Samar Badawi is the ex-wife of influential human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, and according to activists has been accused of running his Twitter account after he was jailed in 2014. One of the most well-known campaigners for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, Ms Badawi received the 2012 International Women of Courage award, presented by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and theocracy based on Islamic law located on the Arabian Peninsula. The World Economic Forum has ranked Saudi Arabia as 131 out of 135 countries in their Global Gender Gap Index | World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index retrieved 4 May 2013 with a score of zero for the category of female political empowerment.

Human rights groups have sharply condemned Saudi Arabia in the days since it executed 47 prisoners, including the reported beheading of an influential Shiite cleric. Such brutal executions, which in Saudi Arabia can include beheading, firing squad and even crucifixion, often follow dubious trials and arbitrary charges, according to Geoffrey Mock, the Middle East country specialist for Amnesty International USA.

On December 3, officials at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport prevented Samar Badawi from leaving Saudi Arabia to advocate abroad for the release of her husband, Waleed Abu al-Khair. A lawyer and human rights activist, he is in prison, facing a 15-year term for peacefully criticizing Saudi authorities on Twitter and in television interviews.

Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 47 people on January 2 was a bloody emblem in the country's self-marketing as a leader in the global campaign against ISIS and other armed extremist groups. But it was also a stark example of what Saudi Arabia, and many other countries, are getting wrong in that effort.

The war-ridden and economically-struggling country is the latest nation to feel the brunt of Saudi Arabia's anger

The war-ridden and economically-struggling country is the latest nation to feel the brunt of Saudi Arabia's anger