Free Republic

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump got the royal treatment on his first stop in Saudi Arabia, as white Arabian horses flanked his motorcade — with adviser Elon Musk in tow. Dozens of Saudis rode on horseback carrying US and Saudi flags as Trump’s motorcade peeled into the Royal Court, where he got a warm welcome before going to a lunch in the palace adorned with chandeliers and marble floors. “I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump told reporters after his arrival, referring to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a friend. He later recalled...

The United Nations says it has received more than half of the $460 million it appealed for last week to provide emergency relief in flood-ravaged Pakistan. After days of urging foreign donors to provide more aid, U.N. humanitarian spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said Wednesday that the funding is an improvement, with 54 percent of the target goal reached... On Wednesday, the European Union announced it would provide an additional $39 million in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan, bringing its total aid to $90 million. Three weeks of monsoon rains have triggered massive floods in Pakistan's Khyber-Paktunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh provinces, affecting 20...

In practice, if not in theory, wealth and democracy reinforce one another. Iraqis have conducted two successful national elections in the midst of terrorist violence. Despite an estimated unemployment rate of 40 percent, some Iraqi "big picture" economic trends are positive. This week at the University of Central Florida's National Global Issues Forum in Orlando, Ambassador Robin Lynn Raphel, the State Department's coordinator for Iraq reconstruction, said that from 2004 to 2005 the Iraqi economy has expanded by 25 percent.That's encouraging news. When it comes to stabilizing Iraqi society, however, the microeconomics of the average Iraqi's pocketbook may trump the...