The economy is picking up and the oil price should stay high for a while. Saddam Hussein, whose invasion of Kuwait in 1990 brutally exposed Saudi Arabia’s vulnerability, is safely in his box. Relations with Iran, the Gulf’s biggest power and Riyadh’s other historic regional rival, are on the mend, while the ArabIsraeli peace front still shows faint glimmers of progress. At home, the undeclared opposition that surfaced after the Gulf War has been bribed or browbeaten into line.But at the best of times decision-making in Saudi Arabia is a meandering process. And Prince Abdullah’s role as regent, one of a group of powerful brothers rather than king in his own right, makes hisability to push through needed reforms even more questionable. His family continues to spend the state’s money as if there were no tomorrow. Disagreement in the ruling clan, however, could force suppressed strains in society to come to the surface.

If things went wrong and Saudi Arabia imploded, the shock would be felt around the world.. Philippine President Joseph Estrada has government would be willing to consider economic aid to a region where rebels are holding 21 mostly foreigners hostage. Philippine President Joseph Estrada has government would be willing to consider economic aid to a region where rebels are holding 21 mostly foreigners hostage.
Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding the hostages on Jolo island in the southern Philippines where Estrada’s administration faces one of its toughest tests since he took office nearly two years ago.Estrada told reporters that “as a policy, the Republic of the Philippine government does not pay ransom to kidnappers”.”However, since the hostages are mainly foreign nationals, they would also have to take into account their concerns.” he said without elaborating. Malaysia said on Monday it has not ruled out any option, including ransom, to free its nine nationals held hostage.Other governments have urged Manila to avoid a rescue raid that could endanger the hostages’ lives. “We’re of course prepared to consider community development projects in the area.” Estrada said.. The prospect of renewed sectarian bloodshed in Indonesia’s Moluccas, the former Spice Islands, loomed large yesterday when 3,000 Muslim fighters were massed to travel to the provincial capital, Ambon. The prospect of renewed sectarian bloodshed in Indonesia’s Moluccas, the former Spice Islands, loomed large yesterday when 3,000 Muslim fighters were massed to travel to the provincial capital, Ambon.
The fighters, who have pledged to wage a jihad, or holy war, against Christians in the islands, gathered in the East Java port of Surabaya.

However, the departure of the bulk of the force was delayed because no ferries were available. A few hundred men arrived in Ambon, 1,400 miles east of Jakarta, at the weekend.The Indonesian authorities fear that the arrival of the paramilitary Muslim force will spark violent clashes in the islands, where nearly 2,000 people have died since a religious war erupted in January 1999.The violence spread across islands in Maluku and North Maluku provinces from Ambon, where it was apparently sparked by a trivial dispute between a Christian bus driver and a Muslim.Radical Muslim leaders have claimed that 10,000 young men are ready to wage a holy war against Christians in the Moluccas. The authorities pledged to prevent them from going to the islands, and President Abdurrahman Wahid, a Muslim who advocates religious tolerance, threatened “stern action” against anyone conducting a jihad.Mr Wahid and VicePresident Megawati Sukarnoputri visited the province in December to appeal for peace. Mr Wahid warned the two sides to resolve their differences or face outside intervention.In Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, the Muslim fighters are staying in religious boarding schools while they await ferries to Ambon. The Ambon military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Iwa Budiman, said that those who had already arrived were staying at a mosque and had so far not caused any trouble.. With the Philippine hostage crisis entering its third week, fresh attempts were made yesterday to break the deadlock.

With the Philippine hostage crisis entering its third week, fresh attempts were made yesterday to break the deadlock.
President Joseph Estrada flew to the south of the country in the hope of reviving negotiations with Muslim rebels holding the 21 hostages, while the European Union resolved to send its most senior diplomat to the Philippines.The EU’s decision to dispatch Javier Solana, taken at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Portugal, reflects Europe’s concerns about the hostages’ welfare.The group being held by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on the southern island of Jolo includes three Germans, two French nationals and two Finns, as well as 10 Malaysians, a Filipino, a Lebanese woman and a South African couple.With pressure mounting on the Manila government to achieve a peaceful conclusion to the crisis, fears for the safety of the captives remain high. Abu Sayyaf rebels killed 13soldiers yesterday during a clash with troops trying torescue a separate group of Filipino hostages on the nearby island of Basilan. Three rebels died in the fighting, in the coastal town of Lantawan.Meanwhile, troops surrounding the guerrilla hide-out on Jolo fired mortar shells at the rebels’ defence lines, and a spokesman for Mr Estrada said a military operation to rescue the hostages might be launched if negotiations dragged on too long. The President, who had maintained a low profile since the hostages were kidnapped from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan on Easter Day, flew to the city of Zamboanga, 500 miles south of Manila.”We are determined to save the hostages and not put them in harm’s way” he said in a speech to local officials and military personnel.Mr Estrada visited wounded soldiers at a hospital at the military’s southern command headquarters and briefly met the government’s hostage negotiator, Nur Misuari.Afterwards the President, who was wearing dark glasses and a military camouflage uniform, said: “I hope that the kidnappers will realise that keeping the hostages will serve no useful purpose whatsoever.”Warning the kidnappers that they faced armed retaliation, Mr Estrada said: ‘This is a direct challenge to our government. If they persist in engaging in terrorist acts, we will give them the full might of our armed forces. Whatever happens, whatever we have to do, we will not allow our country to be dismembered.”Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two guerrilla organisations seeking an independent Islamic state in parts of the southern Philippines, has demanded the release of three Muslim extremists in jail in the United States, including Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.The EU’s decision to send Mr Solana, the head of foreign and security policy, to the Philippines is a clear sign that European countries are losing patience with the Manila government. The EU rarely, ifever, sends envoys to intervene directly in hostage-taking episodes.The foreign ministers issued a statement condemning the kidnapping of the 21 tourists and resort workers, and said they would “spare no effort to secure their safety and early release”.They said Mr Solana, who will leave for Manila today, would not be a mediator, but would “convey personally to the Philippine government the EU’s message concerning the safety of the hostages”.Some 3,000 Muslim fighters from a regional militia began arriving yesterday to join a 2,000-strong military force surrounding the rebels’ jungle camp at Talipao on Jolo.

A cameraman and journalist who visited the camp at the weekend said the hostages were “haggard but scared”. One of them, a German woman, was lying on a makeshift stretcher.The woman is believed to be suffering from hypertension, and a Filipino doctor who visited the hostages last week warned that she might havea stroke if she remained in captivity.Mr Estrada’s spokesman, Ricardo Puno, said yesterday: “If it appears that the hostages are being treated well. If food and medicines are allowed into the location and there are no reports of abuse or torture, then we will give this every possible opportunity to be resolved in a peaceful manner.”But, he added: “If the situation has been extended too long and clearly a negotiated settlement would not result in anything positive or productive, then I am sure some thought would be given to [a military raid].”On Basilan, Abu Sayyaf is believed to be still holding eight of 29 Filipinos taken hostage two months ago At least six of them have been killed. On Saturday troops found the headless corpses of two teachers thought to have been killed just before soldiers attacked the base last week and rescued 15 of the captives.Six people were killed in two bomb attacks on buses in the southern Philippines at the weekend.