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On Friday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was admitted to a hospital due to complications from back pain. The 86 year old monarch slipped a disc earlier this month. A photo was released showing him being escorted in a wheelchair around his palace in Riyadh.
 AP Photo/Saudi Press Agency King Abdullah also recently transferred his National Guard duties to his son, Mitab bin Abdullah, last week. Many see this as a sign that the elderly King is looking to lessen his royal role. He had been head of the Guard since 1962.
As for his hurt back, tests were run and doctors told the King to rest.
“The king felt more pain in his back, so further tests were carried out at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh,” said the Saudi Press Agency. “It appears he has a blood clot in addition to his slipped disc, which is pressuring the nerves so the medical team advised him to rest and monitor the situation.”
King Abdullah has been ruler of Saudi Arabia since 2005 when his ailing half brother King Fahd passed away after many years of poor health.
Source: Digital Journal, Washington Post
The Saudi royal court announced Friday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is suffering from a herniated disc. The 86 year old monarch and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has been curtailing activities since June and was absent from a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday.
 JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images/FILE “Doctors have advised him to rest as part of his therapy,” said a statement from the court, adding that the announcement followed the monarch’s “principle of transparency.”
A herniated disc is when one of the spinal disc either is ruptured or has slipped. It is not life threatening, and can be treated with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs.
As a result of his illness, the King has appointed Interior Minister Prince Nayef to oversee the security arrangements in Mecca for the upcoming Hajj.
News of the King’s back problem has brought the focus onto the recent health of the leading Saudi royals, all of which are in their 70s or 80s.
In 2008, Crown Prince Sultan was treated for cancer and spent a year recovering abroad. He is in his mid-80s.
76 year old Prince Nayef is being treated for an undisclosed illness for a year now.
Prince Saud al-Faisal, age 70, also has had back problems and has been treated in the United States for about a year.
With all the major royals in Saudi Arabia suffering from illnesses, it is a wonder what will happen when they all pass on and what will become of the desert Kingdom – which a leading supplier of oil.
Source: AFP, The Khaleej Times
The New York based Human Rights Watch released a report Monday saying that the people of Saudi Arabia have more freedom since King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud came to the throne in 2005. However, that freedom is not institutionalized and may not last long.
 JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images “Should his enthusiasm for reform wane, or successors tread more conservative paths, his legacy would be one of a brief respite of fresh air, but not one of institutional reform,” the report said of Abdullah.
The King has lightened up on restrictions towards women, such as more freedom for them to move about without being questioned by morality police. King Abdullah even has allowed more freedom to criticize the government of the desert kingdom, which practices an ultra conservative form of Islam.
However, non-Muslims still cannot practice their religion openly and Shiite minorities are discriminated against. Women still cannot drive and still need permission from a male relative to travel.
“The King is laying down markers but not going the one step further to build institutions for this,” said Christoph Wilcke, the principal author of the report.
“There is a growing awareness… that this is a king with a reform agenda,” he told reporters in Riyadh in a conference call.
But, he added: “The deeper I dug the less concrete reform I found.”
Wilcke also pointed out that King Abdullah’s heir, Crown Prince Sultan, does not have the same reform spirit, just like many other senior royal Princes.
Source: AFP
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a decree Thursday, limiting the Islamic clerics who can issue fatwas. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said only members of the Council of Senior Ulema (scholars) will be allowed to issue fatwas, or religious edicts. The King also added that this only for the time being.
 AFP/POOL/File/Carolyn Kaster “We have followed this issue and noted many violations that we cannot allow. It is our religious obligation to confront it firmly to safeguard religion, preserve unity and to prevent evil,” he said.
“All those who violate this order subject themselves to accountability and punishment, whoever they are, because the interests of the religion and the nation are above anything else,” Abdullah warned in the decree.
“We urge you … to limit fatwas to the members of the High Scholars Authority and to advise on those among them who are wholly…eligible to be involved in the duty of fatwa so that we allow them to carry out fatwas.”
The High Scholars Authority comprises 20 members who are appointed by the King.
Because Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, many religious clerics all over the world follow the fatwas when issued.
The country follows the strictest form of Islam, Wahhabism, which forbids music and unrelated men and women mixing. King Abdullah has been trying to loosen up the Kingdom’s ultra-conservative traditions, much to the chagrin of many senior royals and clerics.
Sources: AFP, Reuters
Since late Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has been making brief stops in four Mideast nations in order to calm the rising tensions in Lebanon and promote Arab unity. The King’s tour began in Egypt and ended in Jordan.
 AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi While in a Sinai resort town, King Abdullah met with President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the Mideast peace process and Lebanon. Their meeting lasted only one hour.
After that, Abdullah went to Syria where he was greeted at a Damascus airport by President Bashar al-Assad. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are easing tensions that started in 2005, when Saudi ally, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiki Hariri, was assassinated. It is believed that a Syrian killed Hariri, which Syria firmly denies.
During their meeting, the King urged al-Assad to use his influence over Hezbollah, a Lebanese resistance movement, to avoid any conflicts.
Once the meeting was over, both leaders went to Beirut together. Although things have been tense with Syria and Lebanon, diplomatic ties have been warming up lately, with current Prime Minister Saad Hariri visiting Damascus five times since 2008.
In Beirut, King Abdullah, President al-Assad met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. A statement from the presidency said the leaders had discussed “ways to reinforce national accord and Lebanon’s stability” and stressed the need to avoid violence.
 AP Photo/Ahmad Omar Also at the meeting was Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, who said the issue over a tribunal indicting a rogue Hezbollah member over Hariri’s father’s murder, was raised during the closed-door talks.
“The (meeting) discussed the tribunal decision … and how it will reflect on the situation in Lebanon,” he told Reuters. “We consider this a very sensitive and dangerous subject, (that is) putting the tribunal under Israel’s service against the resistance.”
Lebanese political analyst Suleiman Taqi al-Deen said the Saudi-Syrian visit was “important, exceptional and pre-emptive.”
“It is the first time it happens before a situation in Lebanon explodes. It is an understanding to defuse the Lebanese problem because if it explodes its consequences will be very dangerous on the region,” he told Reuters.
 REUTERS/Ali Jarekji ( After the historic meeting in Beirut, King Abdullah went next to Jordan where he met its King, also named Abdullah. There, the Saudi King told his counterpart about his talks in Lebanon, and even the Palestinian issue.
“The two leaders stressed their backing for Lebanon’s efforts to enhance its stability, security, unity and national accord,” a Jordanian palace statement said.
“Saudi Arabia and Jordan support the Palestinian people in seeking to restore their rights,” the statement went on to say. “A two-state solution is the only way to achieve security and stability in the region.”
After the Friday meeting, the Jordanian King hosted an official dinner for the Saudi King. The latter then returned to Riyadh.
The Saudi King’s Mideast tour came at a time when the results of a UN tribunal’s investigation into Hariri’s murder — expected to be announced by the end of 2010 — have sparked tensions in Lebanon.
The tense atmosphere is further hurt by threats of a war against Lebanon by Israel, who has been accusing Hezbollah of receiving weapons from Syria — a claim also echoed by the United States. Both Lebanese and Syrian officials strongly dismiss the accusations.
Sources: Xinhua, PressTV, EarthTimes, AFP, Reuters
Forbes Magazine released its fourth annual “World’s Richest Royals” list this week. Though the global economy remains shaky, there were a few royals who saw their fortunes go up. Some lost theirs while the majority maintained their wealth.
Just as before, Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej topped the list at $30 billion. His wealth comes the Crown Property Bureau and made up mainly of public investments and real estate. However, with the current political climate in Thailand, investors may be turned off and that could effect the King’s wealth in the future.
Seeing their wealth go up were Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud ($18 billion) and Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani of Qatar ($2.4 billion). Both rulers managed to steer their countries away from the global economic downturn and got their money from rising oil and gas prices.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi ($15 billion), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai ($4.5 billion), and Kuwait’s Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah ($350 million) all saw their forunes go downward. Most especially was Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed who saw his emirate go over $100 million in debt. Even Abu Dhabi ran into real estate issues.
The remaining royals, such as Monaco’s Prince Albert II ($1 billion), Liechtenstein Prince Hans Adam ($3.5 billion) and Sultan Qaboos of Oman ($700 million) managed to keep their fortunes. However, the global economy is unpredictable and one would have to wait till next year to see how well their wealth survives.
According to Forbes, royal wealth “derives from inheritances or positions of power. All of the richest royals on this list are monarchs and serve as heads of often extended family fortunes. Many times wealth is controlled by royal families in trust for their nations or territories. For these reasons, none of the 15 royals on this list would qualify for our annual ranking of the world’s billionaires.”
To see the entire slideshow of the world’s wealthies royals, click here
The King of Saudi Arabia met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, one year after he awarded the President with a medal before Obama made his speech on U.S. – Muslim relations in Egypt.
 Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud talked mainly about the Mideast peace process with Obama, something many want the President to take action on.
“The King wants to have from Obama the assurance that he is going to solve the (Middle East peace) issue,” said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor of the Saudi daily Arab News and a member of the king’s delegation, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabians feel Obama has not done much with the peace process. They would like to see him put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories, something many feel has stalled the problem.
Also discussed during the meeting was Iran and its nuclear program. King Abdullah told Obama about his concern that Iran is his Kingdom’s key foreign policy threat and wondered what will happen when the U.S. withdraws its troops from Iraq.
Sources: Reuters, AFP
The leaders of six Gulf nations gathered in Riyadh for the 12th annual Gulf Cooperation Council. Royals from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates came to Dirriyah Palace to discuss among Iran, Iraq, Yemen and the Mideast peace process.
 Xinhua/Saudi Photo Agency All those in attendance agreed to back the U.S.-backed Mideast peace process, which broke down last year. They also called for a revival of the peace talks and for Israel to stop settlements in Palestinian territories.
In addition, the Gulf leaders sided with Kuwait in an alleged Iranian spy group discovered in that country. The secretary-general of the GCC, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, said “The security of the Gulf region is a red line. The security of the Gulf cannot be divided.”
“But our Kuwaiti friends want to handle it themselves for the moment,” he added.
As for Iraq, the GCC members called for all neighboring countries and the international community to help the troubled nation to get back on its feet.
The GCC was hosted by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Crown Prince Sultan and Prince Naif were present. The monarchs of Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait were there, while the UAE was represented by its Vice President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai. Oman was the other country at the summit, but its deputy prime minister was there instead of its Sultan.
Sources: Arab News, Saudi Gazette, AFP
On Friday, Saudi Arabian newspapers ran on their front pages a photograph of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Crown Prince Sultan posing with a large group of women, all of whom with their faces uncovered.
 AFP/Getty Images The picture has ignited controversy in ultra-conservative Kingdom where the mixing of the genders is strictly prohibited – and here are the two most powerful men in that country posing with women.
It is not known when the photograph was taken, but it may have happened several weeks ago during a seminar on health and the community in the southwestern city of Najran.
The photograph was published in several leading newspapers including Okaz, Ashahrq al-Awsat and Al-Watan. These publications each have a close link to senior members of the House of Saud.
Publication of this picture has sparked a debate on the mixing of the sexes, especially if the women’s faces are not covered. In Saudi Arabia, women are required to have their faces covered in public, as enforced by religious police.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is known for trying to lighten up his Kingdom’s strict religious laws. He recently fired a cleric for criticizing a new co-ed university that is set to open in Saudi Arabia.
Source: AFP
As she concluded her historic three day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned had nothing but kind words for King Abdullah for his leadership and vision for the Persian Gulf region.
 REUTERS/Stringer Speaking in an interview published in the Qatari newspaper Al Sharq and the Saudi daily Al Riyadh, Mozah said she was impressed by the Saudi Arabian King’s great knowledge of education and science. This is something the Sheikha cares very much for as she is Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
“On many visits and in many meetings with world leaders I found no person or leader that had the same, real, genuine enthusiasm to develop education and scientific research and to develop Gulf societies, not only Saudi Arabia,” she said.
Sheikha Mozah also pointed out that health and education projects and scientific research in Qatar were not impacted by the recent global financial crisis. That was because her husband, Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, set aside funds for those projects. “We ought to learn a lesson from the financial crisis and we have to focus on our economies and investments.”
“Today we are talking about a global citizen, and in order to be a global citizen one should have all the mechanisms that enable him to react vigorously, to impact and be impacted by others. Hence we focused on a change and on reforming education.”
Mozah also spoke of how women in the Arabian peninsula need the recognition they deserve for the work that they do.
“We in Qatar work to highlight the historical and influential role of woman in the Arab Peninsula before and after Islam’s arrival. This role is unknown in Arab and western world and neglected by Arab public opinion, mass media, and intellectuals,” she said.
“If we were able to develop the family in the GCC, the role of woman, I reckon would automatically change and so would the role of the Gulf citizen in general.”
Sheikha Mozah arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. She was given tours of several universities in hopes of establishing relations between Saudi institutions and Qatari institutions.
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