World leaders to attend funeral of Saudi King Fahd

Heads of state from around the world jetted into the Saudi capital of Riyadh amid tight security today to attend the funeral of King Fahd, the oil-rich country’s ruler for almost a quarter of a century who died yesterday from a long illness.

King Fahd, the country’s absolute monarch since 1982 until he was debilitated by a 1995 stroke, died early yesterday aged 84 after nearly two months in a Riyadh hospital.