Saudi Arabia Crackdown

Saudi officials are seizing rainbow-coloured toys and articles of clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media reported.

Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store two years ago over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast.

Muezzins issuing high-decibel calls to prayer have long been part of Saudi identity, but a crackdown on mosque loudspeakers is among contentious reforms seeking to shake off the Muslim kingdom's austere image.

Saudi authorities have severed contact between some of the kingdom's most prominent detainees and their families, escalating a crackdown on dissent that threatens to strain relations with Western allies.

Saudi authorities have detained three princes including King Salman's brother and nephew on charges of plotting a coup, the US media reported Friday, signalling a further consolidation of power by the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Twitter said Friday it had suspended thousands of accounts linked to a manipulation effort stemming from Saudi Arabia, in the latest social media crackdown on state-sponsored propaganda efforts.

Saudi Arabia has detained at least nine people including academics and writers in the latest in a series of public crackdowns over the past two years, campaigners said on Monday.

It was an unprecedented move against once-inviolable power figures in the kingdom, framed as a crackdown on corruption.

At least seven people, including two US citizens, have been arrested in a new crackdown in Saudi Arabia, activists said on Friday.

Saudi women activists detained last year in a sweeping crackdown on campaigners will be put on trial, state media said Friday.

Saudi Arabia has freed Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi more than 14 months after he was detained in a crackdown on corruption.

The ambitious initiative, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would be challenging in the best of times - relying on the government to abandon its wariness of foreign visitors and on the outside world to revise its perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a forbiddingly conservative society.

A crackdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia has severely dented the kingdom's private jet industry in a sign of the impact the campaign has had on private enterprise and the wealthy elite.

Saudi authorities have released the brother of billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal after nearly a year in detention, family members said Saturday, as the kingdom faces international pressure over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman has shaken up the ultraconservative oil superpower with economic, social and religious reforms since becoming crown prince last year. But many now see his crackdown on any dissent as verging on authoritarianism.

Saudi officials are seizing rainbow-coloured toys and articles of clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media reported.

Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store two years ago over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast.

Muezzins issuing high-decibel calls to prayer have long been part of Saudi identity, but a crackdown on mosque loudspeakers is among contentious reforms seeking to shake off the Muslim kingdom's austere image.

Saudi authorities have severed contact between some of the kingdom's most prominent detainees and their families, escalating a crackdown on dissent that threatens to strain relations with Western allies.

Saudi authorities have detained three princes including King Salman's brother and nephew on charges of plotting a coup, the US media reported Friday, signalling a further consolidation of power by the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Twitter said Friday it had suspended thousands of accounts linked to a manipulation effort stemming from Saudi Arabia, in the latest social media crackdown on state-sponsored propaganda efforts.

Saudi Arabia has detained at least nine people including academics and writers in the latest in a series of public crackdowns over the past two years, campaigners said on Monday.

It was an unprecedented move against once-inviolable power figures in the kingdom, framed as a crackdown on corruption.

At least seven people, including two US citizens, have been arrested in a new crackdown in Saudi Arabia, activists said on Friday.

Saudi women activists detained last year in a sweeping crackdown on campaigners will be put on trial, state media said Friday.

Saudi Arabia has freed Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi more than 14 months after he was detained in a crackdown on corruption.

The ambitious initiative, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would be challenging in the best of times - relying on the government to abandon its wariness of foreign visitors and on the outside world to revise its perceptions of Saudi Arabia as a forbiddingly conservative society.

A crackdown on corruption in Saudi Arabia has severely dented the kingdom's private jet industry in a sign of the impact the campaign has had on private enterprise and the wealthy elite.

Saudi authorities have released the brother of billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal after nearly a year in detention, family members said Saturday, as the kingdom faces international pressure over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman has shaken up the ultraconservative oil superpower with economic, social and religious reforms since becoming crown prince last year. But many now see his crackdown on any dissent as verging on authoritarianism.