The crises in the Middle East are creating a growing challenge for Saudi Arabia: how it gets its oil to global markets. Shipping costs are rising, oil has topped $105 a barrel, and global inventories are being rapidly drained.

Reza Valizadeh, a former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, has been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison for two years. The dual US-Iranian citizen is serving a 10-year sentence for “collaborating with a hostile government,” a conviction his supporters and press-freedom groups reject.