Kingdom bans leading newspaper

Saudi Arabia has indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, days after the paper disclosed that a Saudi extremist had played a key role in a violent Iraqi Al Qaeda front group.

It was unclear whether the Iraqi article was the main impetus for the ban, or merely the culmination of several weeks of disputes, mostly on other issues, between Al Hayat newspaper and the kingdom’s information minister.

Saudi officials are sensitive to criticism that extremists from the kingdom are making their way to Iraq to fight against the Shiite-led government there, although top Saudi officials in recent months have acknowledged the problem.