King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia has taken charge of arms negotiations with the United States and is seeking to downgrade the power of the defense ministry, which is run by his ailing designated heir, Prince Sultan, Paris's Intelligence Online says. The cancer-stricken Sultan, who is the monarch's half-brother but from a rival branch of the royal family, is reported to be "enfeebled and unable to comprehend government affairs," says Simon Henderson, an expert on Saudi Arabia with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Intelligence Online, a Web site that monitors global security affairs, noted when Abdallah toured the United...