Saudi Arabia

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Saudis Bumping Oil Flow 2% to Slow Soaring Prices

July increase adds 200,000 barrels a day to pipeline

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia, worried soaring prices could weaken the world's appetite for oil, will increase production by 200,000 barrels a day, beginning next month, the Saudi oil minister told UN chief Ban Ki-moon in a meeting yesterday. The move follows a May increase of 300,000 barrels, the AP notes.

Saudis to Boost Oil Output to Record Level

Kingdom aims to stabilize prices to protect oil market

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia aims to put the brakes on oil prices by raising output to its highest ever, the New York Times reports. The kingdom resisted calls from President Bush earlier this year to boost production, but is now concerned that record oil prices could lead to lower demand in the...

Oil Prices Threaten US-Saudi Relations

Washington loses leverage as Beijing gains clout with Riyadh

(Newser) - The weakening dollar and rising oil prices are marring more than just the American economy: It’s also eroding the long-standing friendly relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, the Los Angeles Times reports. A bleak economic outlook has cost the US clout with its oil-producing ally. “There’s...

CIA Chief: Tide Turning Against Al-Qaeda

Hayden says terrorists are all but defeated in Iraq, Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda is "near strategic defeat" in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the tide is turning against it elsewhere, CIA chief Michael Hayden says in a surprisingly upbeat Washington Post interview today. In contrast to a  reports of an al-Qaeda resurgence a year ago, Hayden now cites “significant setbacks...

Dear Yanks: Time to Snap Out of Oil Coma
Dear Yanks: Time to Snap Out of Oil Coma
OPINION
May 20, 2008 2:37 PM CDT

Dear Yanks: Time to Snap Out of Oil Coma

Leave demagoguery, pandering behind, get real on energy policy

(Newser) - Romancing the Saudis and railing against speculators won’t accomplish anything, Gerard Baker tells American pols in the Guardian: A second industrial revolution is driving oil prices up and there’s no turning back. Stop the populism— the "economically illiterate idea for a gas tax holiday," for instance—...

Bush, Stop Begging the Saudis
 Bush, Stop Begging the Saudis 
OPINION
May 17, 2008 1:23 PM CDT

Bush, Stop Begging the Saudis

Don't publicly ask for oil favors you won't get, WSJ writes

(Newser) - Whichever adviser sent President Bush to plead with the Saudi king to help bring down oil prices should be canned, the Wall Street Journal opines. Bush had the same request turned down during a visit in January, and the rebuff is even more humiliating the second time around. If Bush...

Saudis Won't Budge on Oil
 Saudis Won't Budge on Oil 
May 16, 2008 6:26 PM CDT

Saudis Won't Budge on Oil

Leaders again dismiss Bush request for help reining in US gas prices

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia's leaders today denied a request from visiting President Bush that they boost oil production to help ease rising gas prices, the AP reports. "Supply and demand are in balance today," the kingdom's oil minister said, with the commodity pushing $128 per barrel. "How much does...

Women-Only Saudi Hotel Raises Debate on Progress

Critics worry about segregation

(Newser) - Saudi businesswomen are embracing a hotel for women-only that frees them of the pressures from a society in which they can't drive and, until January, couldn't check into a hotel without permission from a male guardian. But others are concerned the Luthan Hotel & Spa simply reinforces the kingdom's gender...

OPEC May Boost Oil Output to Ease Prices

Cartel may meet early and backpedal on current policy

(Newser) - As crude hit $125 a barrel today, one OPEC member said the cartel may boost oil production to relieve prices, the New York Times reports. The move would conflict with OPEC's public stand that speculators, not oil supplies, have been keeping prices high. “We would consider among other options...

Blasts Accompany Crippling Lebanon Strike

Casualties unclear as workers demand higher wages amid government crisis

(Newser) - Explosions and gunfire sounded throughout Beirut today as a politically charged workers' strike turned violent. A Hezbollah-led opposition party had called for a one-day general strike, ostensibly for higher wages, the BBC reports. But things soon turned ugly, with flaming barricades along major roads, and gunfire between various factions in...

Mozart Helps Snap Saudi Taboos

Mixed-gender concert signals opening to outside world

(Newser) - Mozart hasn't challenged cultural taboos for more than 200 years, but last night he caused quite a stir in Saudi Arabia. A German-based quartet gave the nation its first public classical concert where men were allowed to hear Mozart and sit next to, gasp, women. "The concert is a...

Gas-Tax Break Shameful Policy
Gas-Tax Break Shameful Policy
OPINION
Apr 30, 2008 5:29 PM CDT

Gas-Tax Break Shameful Policy

McCain-Clinton pandering just another indication of backward US attitude

(Newser) - The “McCain-Clinton” gas-tax vacation is an abomination of energy policy, Thomas Friedman declares in the New York Times. “This is money laundering: We borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks.”...

Mecca Time Plugged for World Standard

Muslim scholars say British-imposed GMT due for a change

(Newser) - A group of Muslim scholars wants Mecca time to replace Greenwich Mean Time as the world's default setting, the BBC reports. As Islam’s holiest city lies in perfect longitudinal alignment to magnetic north, scientists told a Qatar conference that Mecca was the “true” center of the earth. GMT,...

Guardian System Has Saudi Women 'Perpetual Minors'

Doing almost anything requires male consent in kingdom, report finds

(Newser) - Women in Saudi Arabia need to gain a male guardian’s consent to do almost anything, living as “perpetual minors,” the Telegraph reports. Research by Human Rights Watch found that male permission is needed to go to a doctor, travel, and even get dressed. In addition, strict segregation...

Osama Bin Laden 'Alive &amp; Well'
 Osama Bin Laden 'Alive & Well' 
Apr 3, 2008 4:25 AM CDT

Osama Bin Laden 'Alive & Well'

Deputy touts his health on internet

(Newser) - Seven years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according to his deputy. "Sheik Osama bin Laden is in good health. The ill-intentioned always try to circulate false reports about him being sick," said Ayman al-Zawahiri in a 104-minute recording posted on the internet. The comments...

How Osama Rejected His Family's Values
How Osama Rejected His
Family's Values
Book Review
Apr 1, 2008 1:20 PM CDT

How Osama Rejected His Family's Values

Author examines bin Laden's roots, Saudi clan's ties to US

(Newser) - Osama is the most famous of the bin Ladens, but he’s also the clan's black sheep. In his new book, The bin Ladens, Steve Coll explores the sprawling family, which is so different from its most famous scion that Osama’s war takes on a Freudian dimension. The book...

Fatah and Hamas Sign Deal, But Feuding Continues

Rival Palestinian factions bicker over control of Gaza

(Newser) - In a second attempt to mend fences, rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas agreed to resume direct talks today to resolve disputes and revive their failed coalition. A Hamas official called the deal “a new beginning and the start of a new stage,” but just hours after signing...

In Saudi Arabia, a Hotel for Women

Men-free Luthan Hotel 'meeting a very big demand' in conservative Muslim kingdom

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia’s first hotel catering exclusively to women—right down to its plush spa—opened this week in Riyadh, the Independent reports. The conservative kingdom enforces strict Islamic segregation of sexes in public, but women can stay at the Luthan Hotel without a male guardian—nor any men on...

Pope Pushing for Church in Saudi Arabia

Islam's holy ground could be ready to open up

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI is lobbying Saudi Arabia to let a Catholic church on its soil, Time reports. The Vatican confirms that it's discussing forging diplomatic relations with the Saudis, but a house of worship would be a major coup in a country where all religions besides Sunni Islam are banned.

Saudi Video Protests Driver Ban
Saudi Video Protests Driver Ban
Mar 11, 2008 7:15 PM CDT

Saudi Video Protests Driver Ban

YouTube clip shows woman driver calling for change in law

(Newser) - Activists have posted a video online to protest the Saudi ban on women drivers, the BBC reports. Made to honor International Women’s Day, the 3-minute clip on YouTube follows protester Wajeha Huwaider as she turns onto a forbidden highway and discusses the legality of the ban. “Many women...

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