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Saudi Arabia
Description
Saudi Arabia, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area and the second-largest in the Arab world. It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, Yemen in the south, the Red Sea to the west and Persian Gulf to the east. Its population is estimated to consist of 16 million citizens and an additional 9 million registered foreign expatriates and 2 million illegal immigrants.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, and it describes itself as being Islamic. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and the kingdom is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram, and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the two holiest places in Islam.
(via Freebase)
Raha Moharrak, 25, has stepped over sexist stereotypes in her nation to become the first Saudi female and youngest Arab to cllimb the world's highest mountain. She was part of team who call themselves "Arabs With Altitude," and included the first ...
UN investigators examining 20 alleged massacres in Syria say regime forces carried out six of the eight confirmed atrocities. Meanwhile, al-Nusra Front is imposing harsh, Taliban-style regulations in areas under its control, mostly in Deir Ez-Zo...
The Saudi King has issued a royal decree allotting 20 percent of the seats in the Shura Council to women. Although they will enjoy full membership privileges, their movement within the council will be strictly segregated from men. BBC Arabic repor...
An escape artist he's not. A young Saudi student flunked physics principals when he tried to squeeze his body through the tiny space below his classroom door as he fled his lessons. He was finally freed, unhurt ... but frustrated.
Press TV reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron is in the Middle East in a controversial tour in which he is selling weapons to Arab monarchies and sheikhdoms, drawing criticism both at home and abroad.