Saudi Arabia, at war in Yemen and competing for regional influence with arch-rival Iran, projects a 6.7 percent rise in defence spending in 2017 to 191 billion riyals ($50.8 billion), according to official budget figures released on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia reported major progress on Thursday in cutting a huge state budget deficit caused by low oil prices, and said it would increase government spending next year to boost flagging economic growth.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition will halt its use of British-made cluster munitions in Yemen, the Saudi government said on Monday, after 20 months of war in which thousands of civilians have been killed and injured in air strikes.

A Manama court on Thursday adjourned the trial of Bahraini opposition leader and rights activist Nabeel Rajab for a fourth time and rejected calls for his release, judicial sources said.

The Wall Street Journal reported (Friday December 16, 2016) that Saudi Arabia is reconsidering placing Saudi Arabian Oil Company (ARAMCO) stocks in the USA, after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.

Saudi Arabia is determined to prevent external "interference" in neighbouring war-torn Yemen, King Salman said in an annual address on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain raised interest rates within minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to do so on Wednesday as they scrambled to avoid downward pressure on their currencies due to low oil prices.

The United States has decided to limit military support to Saudi Arabia's campaign in Yemen because of concerns over widespread civilian casualties and will halt a planned arms sale to the kingdom, U.S. officials told Reuters.

Former Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council, Ellen Laipson, believed that there is a US trend under the new administration to change the policy toward Iran. She called on discussing with Iran the files it likes to participate in, among which is water scarcity in the Middle East.

Recently disclosed chain of emails between Hillary Clinton and her advisor shed light on reality of Saudi role in crushing Bahraini uprising and killing anti-regime Shia protestors.

Former director of the Saudi Arabian General Intelligence Directorate, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, said that he does not support stopping the nuclear deal with Iran in the current phase, calling on to activate the agreement’s articles to guarantee that Iran will not own nuclear -weapons for 15 years.

Bahrain’s king Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received the British foreign secretary Boris Johnson, few hours after the latter’s statements in which he attacked Saudi Arabia and accused it of waging proxy wars.

The executive director of a leading British think tank, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) that organizes the “Manama Dialogue” forum, has quietly stepped down after a British newspaper revealed that IISS has received £25 million from Bahraini royals.

Nasser is striving to portray himself as “a man of war” after his first two images were deformed, when he painted himself as an “athletic prince”, and was later exposed as a torturer.

British Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson said accused the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of his country’s strongest allies in the region, of “participating in proxy wars” and “twisting and abusing religion” for political ends.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his Saudi counterpart Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud agreed to conduct a study for constructing the “King Hamad Bridge”, under private funding.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders ended their 37th Summit in Manama. The closing statement did not break new ground in the “Gulf Union” file, which was heavily promoted in Gulf press during the past few days.

An investigative body set up by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Tuesday it should apologize for a deadly attack on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in August that the group said killed 11 people.

The Security Directorate of the south Yemeni city of Aden said that the anti-terrorism unit of the City Security Department arrested an 8-member ISIS-affiliated military cell, in coordination with the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces.

A Saudi court on Tuesday sentenced 15 people to death for spying for the kingdom's arch-enemy, Iran, Saudi-owned media reported, in a ruling that could further stoke tension between the two rival powers.