Cyber activists have created a group on Facebook calling for a "Day of Anger" on Friday in the eastern Shiite-majority Saudi region, following the arrest of a Shiite cleric.

The group of more than 500 members is calling for protests after Friday prayers in Al-Hufuf, in Eastern Province's Al-Ihsaa governorate, to demand the release of Sheikh Tawfiq al-Amer.

The chief executive of Saudi Arabia's state-run oil giant says it has stepped in to compensate for an export shortfall stemming from the unrest in Libya.

Saudi Aramco's Khalid Al Falih declined on Monday to specify how much additional oil Saudi Arabia — the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — has pumped into the market.

King Abdullah Returns to Riyadh, Boosts Social Benefits

Saudi King Abdullah arrived in his homeland Wednesday after three months abroad, boosting social benefits for his people as he returned to a Middle East rocked by anti-regime uprisings.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement with France on peaceful nuclear energy development to help meet the kingdom's rising energy demand, an official statement said.

The agreement will enable Saudi Arabia to compare available options for its long-term program to build alternative energy plants for electricity production and water desalination, said Hashim Yamani, president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE).

As pro-democracy uprisings spread across the Middle East, Saudi authorities are feeling increasingly isolated and concerned that Washington may no longer be a reliable backer, officials and diplomats told the New York Times.

“The Saudis are completely encircled by the problem, from Jordan to Iraq to Bahrain to Yemen,” said one Arab diplomat, voicing a view that is common in the halls of power in Riyadh.

Tunisia's interim government on Sunday asked Saudi Arabia to extradite deposed strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as it faced a second day of protests demanding its resignation.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's government made the official request to Riyadh, where Ben Ali fled on January 14 with his family after weeks of popular revolt against his 23-year regime, said a foreign ministry statement cited by state news agency TAP.

Saudi Arabia urged the Bahraini opposition to heed government calls for dialogue, pledging on Sunday to stand by its small neighbor after protesters re-occupied Manama's central Pearl Square.

"Saudi Arabia is carefully following the developments... and calls upon brothers in Bahrain to be reasonable in proposing their ideas, and accept what was offered by the government," state news agency SPA said quoting an unnamed official.

Saudis seeking to emulate fellow Arabs by using the web to push for change have created a group on Facebook urging political, social and economic reforms that by Tuesday had nearly 2,000 members.

"The people want to reform the regime" group calls for a constitutional monarchy, transparency, parliamentary elections, an independent and fair judicial system, anti-corruption measures and respect for human and women's rights.

Israeli deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned on Tuesday that Hizbullah was consolidating its military capabilities in contravention with U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

He told the Herzliya Conference on “The Balance of Israel’s National Strength and Security" that Lebanon is the only country where a party has representatives in parliament and at the same time military capabilities.

Real Madrid, one of the world's richest football clubs, have announced they have reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia's Prince Salman Foundation to build a sports academy in the Middle Eastern country.

The deal will officially be signed in Madrid on Monday, the Spanish club said in a statement published on their website late on Friday.