Saudi executes Pakistani for rape, murder

Saudi authorities executed on Friday a Pakistani man convicted of rape and murder, in the northwestern town of Tabuk, the interior ministry said.

13 Haj pilgrims injured in minor fire in Mecca

Thirteen people sustained minor injuries when a fire broke out in a nine-storey building in Mecca, housing Haj pilgrims from India and Myanmar. Ten fire multi-mission squads controlled the blaze in the limits of one room at the fourth floor of the building last evening and evacuated the pilgrims from India and Myanmar, Saudi News agency SPA reported on Monday.

Saudi female athletes fear crackdown

While Olympic leaders and human rights advocates are encouraged by signs that Saudi Arabia may bow to pressure and send female athletes to the Summer Games, women athletes in the ultraconservative kingdom are worried about a backlash at home. Under pressure from the International Olympic Committee to end the tradition of sending men-only teams to the Olympics, Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will allow women who qualify to compete at the London Games.

Video of Saudi woman confronting religious police goes viral

A video of a brave Saudi woman confronting members of the country's religious police after they accused her of breaking strict modesty rules with her freshly painted nails, has gone viral on the internet.

Saudi king dismisses conservative adviser

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has dismissed a controversial ultraconservative adviser after he publicly criticized reforms aimed at easing restrictions on women, the kingdom's state media reports. Sheik Abdul-Mohsen al-Obeikan had told a local radio station that officials were working to Westernize and secularize the country's laws by "legalizing taboos.

Jazan governor rescues maid enslaved for 13 years

Sri Lankan housemaid was kept against her will by her Saudi sponsor and not paid since she came to the Kingdom in 1997, sources from the Jazan governorate said on Tuesday.