Free Republic

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia, crimped by low crude prices, approved Monday a long-term blueprint for the kingdom’s economic transformation aimed at reducing its dependence on oil. The multiyear plan, dubbed “Saudi Vision 2030,” was approved by the cabinet, according to Saudi Arabia’s monarch, King Salman. The Saudi cabinet, in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the government’s economic council would be in charge of overseeing the vision’s implementation. Saudi officials later Monday were to present a broad overview of the country’s most extensive economic shake-up in decades. The steep drop in oil prices has given new urgency to...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A former high school valedictorian accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush pleaded innocent Monday in federal court to providing material support to terrorists and other charges. Despite defense protests, an Aug. 22 trial date was scheduled for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, of Falls Church. He was indicted last month and charged with six counts that would allow a maximum prison term of 80 years. Prosecutors say Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who was valedictorian of his class at an Islamic private school in northern Virginia, joined al-Qaida while studying overseas in...

RIYADH, May 22 (Reuters) - A German man was shot dead in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday and authorities said they were checking if it was a Muslim militant attack. "He was a German," an Interior Ministry official told Reuters. "We are not sure if this is a terrorist attack or only a personal crime," the official said, adding that the German worked for a Saudi catering company. Western diplomats could not immediately confirm whether the killing was carried out by Muslim militants loyal to Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who has vowed to drive out Western...

Envoy's card found in raid on Hamburg apartment, officer says BERLIN A German federal police officer testified in court Tuesday that a raid on the apartment of an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that led the Sept. 11 attacks turned up the business card of a diplomat from the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Berlin and Saudi officials have not responded to German requests to explain how the defendant came to have the card. An investigator from the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations, known by its German initials, BKA, said in court that the Moroccan defendant, Mounir Motassadeq, also...

Religious police demand head-to-toe modesty, but men are in charge of selling women their underwear RIYADH THE SAUDI woman, swathed in black with only her eyes showing, held up a lacy orange bra and asked the salesman in a whisper if he had her size. "Did you say 36C?" the man replied, loudly enough for other customers to hear. "Are you sure you don't need a bigger size?" "It was 36C in the past," said the woman. "Well, the past changes," responded the salesman. It's not the kind of exchange one might expect in Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are...