Often aided and inspired by social media, an increasing number of young Saudi women are taking enormous gambles to escape the country, rights groups say.

A Saudi teen who was granted asylum in Canada after fleeing from her allegedly abusive family has arrived in Canada. Her flight from Seoul, South Korea, landed in Toronto a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would accept 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as a refugee. Al-Qunun, wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the word Canada, waved to reporters as she walked through Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

An 18-year-old Saudi woman who said she is fleeing abuse from her family has been granted asylum in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Friday. Thailand’s immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said Rahaf al-Qunun has left Thailand for Canada on board a Korean Air flight.

Women in Saudi Arabia—who have long been subjected to a litany of misogynistic restrictions on their behavior, including totalitarian male guardianship laws—will soon receive text messages to inform them of changes to their marital status as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “reforms” of the country’s monarchic government, CNN reported on Sunday.

The head of Thailand's immigration police said Monday that an 18-year-old Saudi woman who was stopped in Bangkok as she was trying to travel to Australia for asylum to escape alleged abuse by her family will not be sent anywhere against her wishes. The woman, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, was allowed to temporarily enter Thailand under the protection of the U.N. refugee agency, which was expected to take at least five to seven days to evaluate her case and claims for asylum status.

“We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and only removed this episode in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request — and to comply with local law,” the company said.

Netflix is facing criticism for pulling an episode from viewing in Saudi Arabia of American comedian Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act that criticizes the kingdom's crown prince. Rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia's censorship of Netflix is "further proof of a relentless crackdown on freedom of expression."

“Few relationships are as vital, under as much pressure, and as poorly understood as that between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” (Bronson, 2006, pp. 2-3). It is also of vital importance for Saudi Arabia – the hegemonic power among the oil producers. “The dimensions of potential incompatibility relate to the very core of Saudi foreign policy. The informal alliance with the United States both strengthens and weakens the Saudi position on most key issues” (Niblock, 2006, p. 143).

Twitter says there has been suspicious activity on its platform that may have involved state-sponsored hackers from China and Saudi Arabia seeking information about specific users. The social media company says it detected an “issue” on Nov. 15 related to one of its support forums, where users contact Twitter to report any problems with an account.

Getting to the bottom of the Jamal Khashoggi disappearance is a bit like peeling an onion. By Philip Giraldi.

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi has triggered outrage and left Saudi Arabia relatively isolated by an international community that often tolerates its troublesome human rights record. The investigation into the journalist's disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is still underway, but Turkey has said the order to kill him came from the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.

US whistle-blower Edward Snowden yesterday claimed that Saudi Arabia used Israeli spyware to target murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the audio recordings were handed over to the U.S. and other Western countries. Saudi Arabia has denied its Crown Prince was involved in the murder.

The White House's reported effort to extradite Fethullah Gulen sheds light on President Trump's efforts to ease rising tensions with Turkey.

Germany banned Saudi citizens suspected of involvement in the killing of journalist.

Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj

That Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "ordered this atrocity is beyond serious doubt."

There’s a case to be made that Donald Trump is simultaneously the biggest liar in U.S. political history and its greatest truth-teller.

Prominent Turkish columnist says CIA director Gina Haspel had 'signaled' the existence of the recording in a visit to Ankara.

Le Figaro’s correspondent in Israel analyses Tel Aviv’s “late reaction” to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The newspaper supports Edward Snowden’s thesis. The latter accused Israel of being indirectly involved in the assassination by providing spyware to Riyadh to help trace this “dissident”.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries likes to look united. That’s evident when OPEC leaders meet in Vienna at the end of each year to decide how much oil its members will aim to produce the next year. There is always a show of togetherness and the appearance of the quasi-cartel’s ability to move markets. But the truth is, OPEC is in the midst of a major crisis made more evident by Qatar’s announcement that it would be leaving OPEC, partly to protest Saudi dominance over the group.

Senior American officials were worried. Since the early months of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, had been having private, informal conversations with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the favorite son of Saudi Arabia’s king. Given Mr. Kushner’s political inexperience, the private exchanges could make him susceptible to Saudi manipulation, said three former senior American officials.

Dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe’’ in the horrific final moments before his death on Oct. 2 in Turkey, according to a report Monday. Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, did not die as a result of a confrontation gone bad as Saudi Arabian officials have claimed.

President Donald Trump has told foreign leaders that "America First" means he will always put the needs of America ahead of the needs of other nations — and that they should do the same for their own country. Saudi Arabia's leadership appears to be on board with that message. Last week, Saudi Arabia disregarded Trump's public pressure campaign to keep pumping at full throttle and cut fuel costs.

A speech by an ex-MI6 boss hints at a plan going back over a decade. In some areas, being Shia is akin to being a Jew in Nazi Germany

A PERSON has been put to death in Saudi Arabia almost every day this month with the country expected to have added to that figure with the execution of its 23rd inmate yesterday. Hajras al-Qurey will become the latest person to be executed in the last three weeks with human rights groups horrified by what they are calling a surge in executions.

Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock tell the disturbing story of a young Ethiopian woman abused by her employers in Saudi Arabia.

A female spectator cheering for a Saudi football team has angered men on social media in the country.

Intervention of Saudi royal may pressure Opec to cut production at its forethcoming meeting to arrest the slide in prices

If you subtract Ebola and ISIS from the news, what are the three most significant recent developments in world affairs? Here are my nominations: Saudi Arabia announces it will raise production and drop oil prices, Turkey loses its bid to serve on the UN Security Council, a meeting between Putin and Merkel gets cancelled because he’s late (though they meet later). You may be surprised to know that all three events do interconnect in unexpected ways.

Jayne Larson got an intimate view of the life of a Saudi princess when she worked as a chauffeur for the royal family. There was no application form; there was no paperwork at all. Jayne Amelia Larson got paid in cash and the only requirements were that she had a clean driving record and she answered one single question: “I was asked if I was a Jew and I’m not, so I got the job.”

Sen. Rand Paul called for a boycott of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, saying Americans should shun the kingdom as it did the apartheid regime in South Africa. Paul's comments came as he intensified his attack against Hillary Rodham Clinton, again calling on her to return gifts given to her family foundation by foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia launched air strikes Thursday targeting military installations in Yemen held by Shia rebels who were taking over a key port city in the country’s south and had driven the embattled president to flee by sea, security officials said. Some of the strikes hit positions in the country’s capital, Sanaa.

Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi described in his first letter from prison how he "miraculously survived 50 lashes" as part of a conviction that sparked an international outcry, according to German weekly Der Spiegel in a report to be published on Saturday. Badawi was arrested in 2012 for offences including insulting Islam, cyber crime and disobeying his father, which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group launched his harshest criticism yet of Saudi Arabia on Friday, blaming the kingdom for the spread of extremist ideology in the Muslim world and the killing of civilians in Yemen. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters at a rally in southern Beirut organized in support of Yemen's Shiite rebels that Saudi-led airstrikes targeting them have not led to victory.