Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Dies

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud has died. He was in his late 70's.

State media reports on Saturday say Prince Nayef died while abroad. He recently traveled to Europe for medical treatment.

The news reports say he will be buried on Sunday but did not provide additional details about his illness or cause of death.

Prince Nayef was serving as interior minister when King Abdullah named him crown prince last year.

He had led the Interior Ministry since 1975 and was closely aligned with the country's conservative clerics.

As crown prince, he would have assumed the throne upon King Abdullah's death.

(Photo of Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Nayef bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in 2011 by Sultan alSultan.)

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Dies

The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, has died of an undisclosed illness. He was in his mid-80's.

The death of King Abdullah's half-brother was announced by the Saudi media, which said he died Saturday in New York City where he had gone for treatment of recurring medical problems.

The Saudi monarchy announced King Abdullah was mourning the death of his brother, who was one of the kingdom's most powerful figures, serving as both defense minister and deputy prime minister. His death throws into question the future leadership of a country facing simmering unrest at home and challenges from regional rival Iran.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed “great regret” over the death, calling Crown Prince Sultan “a valued friend of the United States” who was a strong supporter of the “deep and enduring partnership” between the two countries forged almost 70 years ago.

Saudi officials said the funeral will take place Tuesday in Riyadh.

In late 2010, Crown Prince Sultan governed the kingdom while King Abdullah underwent surgery in New York. Both the monarch and the crown prince had suffered health problems in recent years.

Saudi officials have not announced a successor, but 86-year-old King Abdullah has indicated his preferences, naming Interior Minister Prince Nayaf as second deputy prime minister in 2009, a traditional post in the chain of succession.

Prince Nayaf is said to have closer ties to Saudi Arabia's powerful, puritanical clerics than the king, who has instituted reforms, including allowing women to take part in future elections.

The succession decision will be made by a special council, in a change of policy that was made by the current king. Crown Prince Sultan's son Khaled is expected to take over his father's duties at the defense ministry. Another son, Prince Bandar, served as ambassador to the U.S. for more than 20 years.

King Abdullah, Prince Nayaf and the late crown prince are all the sons of the founder of the modern Arab nation, Abdul-Aziz, known as Ibn Saud.

(Photo: Prince Sultan, Minister of Defence and Aviation in Saudi Arabia, 1 December 1990. Photo by U.S. military/Department of Defense)

Bin Laden Spent 30 Years Fighting, Then Hiding

Monday, 2 May 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the world's most wanted terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, has been killed. He was 54.

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, then-U.S. president George W. Bush vowed to capture bin Laden – the man the president believed was behind the attacks.

Bin Laden first publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video released in October 2004. He eluded attempts to capture him, disappearing along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and sparking perhaps the largest manhunt in history.

But bin Laden's image as the world's most-wanted terrorist stands in sharp contrast to his peaceful and comfortable upbringing.

He was one of more than 50 children of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate and was raised in the opulence of Saudi Arabia's upper-class.

Bin Laden went on to pursue an engineering degree and seemed prepared to work in the family business.

However, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden left home to join the fight against the Soviets.

He initially provided logistical support for new recruits to the Afghan mujahedin Islamic fighters – the same ones supported by the United States. But in the mid-1980s, bin Laden decided to use his share of his family's wealth to form his own militia force, which later became known as “al-Qaida” – Arabic for “The Base.”

In 1990, Saudi Arabia invited the U.S. to deploy troops within the country following Iraq's invasion of the oil-rich state of Kuwait. Bin Laden saw the arrival of non-Muslims on land considered holy in Islam as an affront to his religion. He protested strongly against the move, resulting in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991.

Bin Laden found refuge in Sudan, where he is said to have orchestrated attacks on the U.S. military in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. He returned to Afghanistan in 1996 after the Sudanese expelled him due to pressure from the U.S.

While there, he continued his campaign against the United States by allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. His popularity grew among disaffected Arabs and those unhappy with U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Stopping bin Laden became the top priority for the United States following the 2001 attacks, a goal that Mr. Obama says remained the top priority under his leadership.

The Taliban refused to surrender the al-Qaida leader to U.S. authorities, prompting the United States to go to war in Afghanistan. The U.S. ousted the Taliban in December 2001, and Osama bin Laden went into hiding.

In his years at large, bin Laden released a series of audiotapes condemning the United States.

Now, nine years, seven months and 20 days since the September 11 attacks, Mr. Obama says “justice has been done” after a U.S. strike team killed bin Laden in a firefight during a raid on his hideout in Pakistan.