The Vatican has scrambled to defend the Pope after a top Turkish cleric asked him to apologise for his comments on Islamic holy war.

A MAN identified as Osama bin Laden has praised an attack earlier this month on a US consulate in Saudi Arabia and criticised the Saudi regime as weak and controlled by the United States.

Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin remains in a coma and his health condition is deteriorating, an employee at the hospital where he is a patient said today.

A Saudi passenger wielding a gun tried to hijack a Saudi Arabian Airlines jet today, but security forces on board arrested him.

A Saudi citizen has been arrested in an FBI sting operation for allegedly accepting bribes to issue American visas to Saudi nationals, authorities said.