Free Republic

Massive swards of locusts invaded the Saudi capital Riyadh, prompting houses and companies to shut their doors and windows and halting traffic in many parts. Authorities said they were mobilizing their resources to combat the invasion which started on Thursday. The Arabic language daily Sabq, which carried a brief U-Tube film of the insects, said the locusts flew into the capital from the western part of the Gulf Kingdom, which has been a scene of locust attack over the past months. Locusts are a popular dish in Saudi Arabia, where a 10-kg bag of live locusts could be sold for...

Hundreds of Pakistani passengers travelling from Karachi to the Saudi capital Riyadh got the shock of their life when their aircraft landed and found themselves in Jeddah. The pilot of flight 731 operated by the Pakistani International Airlines appeared to have mistaken the Western Red Sea town of Jeddah for the Saudi capital when he landed in King Abdul Aziz Airport, the Saudi press said, quoting Pakistani newspapers. The carrier had to rent buses to transport the passengers hundreds of miles from Jeddah to Riyadh, the report said. “Airline officials did not explain the reason for such a mistake while...

He stabbed victim many times in the street in front of passers-byA Saudi drug addict in his 30s went into a shop, dragged an Indian worker out and stabbed him to death many times, claiming he wanted to get rid of evil spirits. Panicking passers-by watched with horror as the Saudi stabbed the Indian worker while chanting “God is Great” in the middle of the road in the capital Riyadh. Police said the unnamed killer already had been convicted of taking drugs, having alcoholic drinks and abusing his parents. “We [are] interrogating him and he said that he kept seeing...

Executioners wanted urgently! Saudi Arabia is desperately looking for ways to make up for the lack of trained executioners who are skilled at beheading people sentenced to death under Sharia law. According to AsiaNews they seem to be a dying breed as “fewer people are interested in a "career" in executing others, a task that requires a lot of cold blood and a lot of training to be able to swing a sword properly.” But “in reality,” AsiaNews reports, “the lack of trained executioners has not slowed down executions in Saudi Arabia. Since the beginning 2013, at least 40 people...

Saudi Arabia's Beheading of a Nanny Followed Strict Procedures Rizana Nafeek, a young nanny from Sri Lanka, was beheaded by sword this week in Saudi Arabia, punishment for allegedly killing a baby in 2007 when she was believed to be just 17. The execution has spurred international outcry, given Nafeek's age at the time of the incident and her limited access to a defense attorney. The beheading has also shined a light on the Arab kingdom's medieval system of punishment, which includes cutting the hands off thieves, executing women accused of adultery, and flogging men accused of being gay. Few...

The Obama administration finally highlights Iran’s key role in supporting al Qaeda On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any transactions with the operatives. Of the many conduits for al Qaeda funds and personnel across the world, the U.S. government believes this one is the most important. “This network...

Chicago-To-Germany Flight Diverted Because Of Unruly Passenger July 8, 2011 6:05 PM Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. (Photo provide by a passenger) Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. CHICAGO (WBBM) – Some Chicagoans have quite a story to tell about a flight from O’Hare to Frankfort, Germany that was diverted Friday to Cleveland when a passenger was found hiding in the bathroom and went ballistic when he was confronted. Joe Shulfer of Woodstock...

Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a video of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her. Manal al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself," which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She went on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar and later posted a video of the experience. ... Human rights activist Walid Abou el-Kheir said...

Be careful what you wish for. After an ambiguous start, Western leaders have broadly welcomed the wave of protest and revolutions sweeping North Africa and parts of the Middle East. But beneath the words of encouragement about people taking charge of their own destiny, there is a growing and vital concern – the security of our oil and gas supplies. The West’s complicity in supporting the autocratic regimes that characterise many of the big oil-exporting nations is in part explained by the fact that, whatever their sins, they did at least seem to provide stability in the energy markets. That...

A college student from Saudi Arabia studying chemical engineering in Texas has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on U.S. targets using explosive chemicals. Khalid Aldawsari, who is legally in the U.S. on a student visa, allegedly targeted the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He was arrested late Tuesday on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. “Yesterday’s arrest demonstrates the need for and the importance of vigilance and the willingness of private individuals and companies to ask questions and contact the authorities when confronted with suspicious...

Authorities Conclude Switzerland Likely Used as Base for Financing, Logistical Support for 9/11 Attacks by Al-Qaida By Daniela Sigrist Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 24, 2004 BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Investigators have concluded that Switzerland was likely used as a base for financing and logistical support for the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, the country's attorney general said Thursday. Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher said authorities plan to begin court proceedings in the coming weeks in three terror cases, capping investigations started four days after the 2001 suicide hijackings in New York and Washington. A special task force initially was charged...

The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show. The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%. The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the...

An alleged Islamic militant has told a Belgian court how he plotted to bomb a military base on an al-Qaeda mission. Nizar Trabelsi, a former Tunisian professional footballer, told how Osama Bin Laden's network sent him two years ago to Belgium to bomb the Kleine Brogel base, which houses nuclear missiles. He is one of 23 alleged Islamic militants on trial. Only eight of them are in custody, while five are still on the run and the others face lesser charges. "I was supposed to go alone in a van. The bomb was behind me," Mr Trabelsi told the Brussels...

(Aug. 25) -- A 50-year-old Sri Lankan woman who worked as a maid for a large family in Saudi Arabia for five months was allegedly tortured by some of the family members hammering nails into her body, doctors said. The woman, who flew back to Colombo, Sri Lanka, from Riyadh on Saturday night, was brought to the hospital by her concerned children Monday. X-rays showed there were 23 nails embedded in her body. "Some of the nails were 2 inches long," Dr. Prabath Gajadeera of Kamburupitiya Base Hospital told AOL News today. "Most of the nails were embedded in her...

Democratic Party front group Media Matters for America has been loyally defending First Lady Michelle Obama's luxurious Spanish vacation this week even as other liberals concede the Obama administration made a politically insensitive call in signing off on the trip.Today, Media Matters attacked Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit/Pajamas Media for his critique of Michelle Obama's trip. The headline of the attack piece: Michelle Obama derangement syndrome: Instapundit posts pic of First Lady as Marie AntoinetteNot only does the headline reinforce the growing meme that Michelle Obama is acting like a rich pig, but upon opening the article one is confronted with...

A cargo plane owned by Lufthansa crashed in Riyadh on Tuesday injuring the two-man crew, the German airline said, confirming earlier statements by a Saudi official The Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 flying 80 tonnes of freight from Frankfurt to the Saudi capital crashed at 11:38 am (0838 GMT), Lufthansa Cargo said. Both pilots suffered minor injuries and were immediately hospitalised. "The captain and the co-pilot are in good health; they only had minor injuries," Khalid al-Khaibri, a spokesman for the Saudi civil aviation authority told AFP. The German airline said "it is not yet known exactly what type of freight it...

… the remarkable reach of the global-terror network A little-noticed investigation by Swiss federal police has uncovered the existence of an apparent terror-support network with ties to the upper levels of Al Qaeda — including an operative believed to have played a role in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the May 2003 bombing of a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The discovery of a largely invisible Al Qaeda network in the peaceful alpine nation has gotten virtually no public attention outside of Switzerland. But criminal charges outlined in a July 30 Swiss prosecutor’s report —...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah for support lobbying for U.N. sanctions against Iran on Wednesday and discussed ways to boost the kingdom's air and missile defenses.The United States is leading a push for the U.N. Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, and aides to Gates made no secret of their hopes that Saudi Arabia could press regional allies for help. "We are certainly hopeful that the Saudis will use whatever influence they have, which is considerable, in this region and throughout the world to try to help...

Saudi Arabia, amid heavy fighting with Shi'ite rebels, has begun erecting another security fence along its border with Yemen. Saudi military sources said the Defense Ministry has overseen a fast-track project to construct a barbed wire fence along most of the 1,600-kilometer border with Yemen. The sources said the project reflected an urgent requirement for a physical barrier to block the flow of thousands of Shi'ite rebels and their supporters from Yemen to the Saudi kingdom. "The infiltration has reached massive proportions," a Saudi source said. "Thousands are crossing into the kingdom."

Saudi Arabia rebuffed charges that the US kidnapped a Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Mecca, a Saudi newspaper said Wednesday, while a leading Iranian politician branded the act "terrorist behaviour." Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali told Asharq Alawsat that he was "stunned by the declarations and allegations" from Tehran, which he "deplored." Nugali said that nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri's disappearance earlier this year had sparked an extensive investigation by the Saudi government. "After having been informed of his disappearance by the Iranian delegation (in Mecca), Saudi authorities undertook an intensive search in Medina as well as in...