Saudi Arabia is bristling under international criticism over the sentencing of a woman rape victim to prison and 200 lashes, insisting the West should keep its nose out of its legal system.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will begin laying the ground for a Mideast peace conference in a visit to Israel today, hoping to push Israelis and Palestinians closer to renewing talks.

Arab leaders opened a key summit today to relaunch a land-for-peace offer to Israel.

Saudi Arabia brought the two main Palestinian leaders to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, today for a last-ditch attempt to end their bloody conflict and complete a power-sharing agreement on a coalition government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the United States is “very concerned” about the plight of the Palestinians and pledged to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Islamic militants to cooperate with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying the Hamas government cannot govern in the region.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said today that Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut would discuss the possibility of holding an emergency summit on Lebanon later this week.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says the Bush administration did not heed Saudi warnings about occupying Iraq, and he does not believe a new constitution and elections will solve the emerging nation’s problems.

Saudi authorities hope King Fahd will be discharged from hospital in the next few days, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said today in Cairo.

Arab leaders today launched into a flurry of diplomatic activity, including a trip by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Saudi Arabia, as they sought to control a political storm over Syria’s role in neighbouring Lebanon.

Proposals for a Muslim force for Iraq moved forward today with the news that Pakistan had talked to Saudi officials and Yemen and Bahrain had offered some military help.

SAUDI Arabia vowed yesterday to strike with an iron fist at militants who attacked a Saudi Arabian petrochemical site and pledged every effort to protect foreigners, five of whom died in the shooting spree.

TERRORISTS yesterday targeted Saudi police headquarters in the capital Riyadh with a suicide bomb attack that killed at least four people.

A PEACE conference between the Israelis and Palestinians, organised by Glencree, was postponed yesterday after the Israelis refused to let one of the Palestinian delegation travel to Ireland.

THE White House, facing a crucial meeting with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, refused to declassify part of an intelligence report on possible links between individuals in the Saudi government and some of the September 11 hijackers.

Saudi Arabia has contacted the United States and Iraq with a peace proposal, the kingdom’s foreign minister said today.

Saudi Arabia will not join any war against Saddam Hussein until it has seen UN evidence Iraq has been developing weapons of mass destruction, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal says.

Saudi Arabia has given foreign oil firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group and ExxonMobil Corp until Nov 1 to respond "positively" to a final offer made by Riyadh over three large gas projects, or risk losing the deal, Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported citing Saudi sources.

THE air strike which killed 15 Palestinians and obliterated a three-story building and destroyed or badly damaged several adjacent ones, came as Palestinian and Israeli political leaders were discussing ways to relieve tensions in the West Bank.

European, UN and Arab officials roundly condemned Israel’s missile strike on an apartment building housing a wanted militant leader, terming it unjustified, criminal and counterproductive.

JORDAN'S foreign minister yesterday credited President George Bush with breaking new and encouraging ground in his Mideast diplomacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he is ready to lift the virtual house arrest of Yasser Arafat, but military strikes against Palestinian targets will go on.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has offered Israel 'complete peace from Arab nations' in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands and the creation of an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.