Free Republic

THE thump of helicopters and the sirens of police convoys will be reverberating around the Red Sea port of Jeddah from tomorrow morning. Private jets will soon be standing wing tip to wing tip at the airport. The house of Saud, the largest and wealthiest royal family in the world, whose members rule the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia and control a quarter of the world’s known oil reserves, is descending on the city in droves. Having buried King Fahd, Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarch since 1982, in an austere ceremony in Riyadh, the royal family are free to travel again....

Saudi police say they have arrested six Muslim militants after Monday's raids on suspected terror cells in Mecca. Saudi Arabia's interior minister says the police prevented a terrorist attack against pilgrims to Mecca. Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, said two of the alleged militants involved in Monday's police raids in Mecca had surrendered, while the others, one of them wounded, had been captured. Asked if he thought the suspects were members of the al-Qaida network, the prince said all eight, including the two who were killed in Monday's raids, were "without any doubt" from the same organization. Speaking to the...