SAUDI ARABIA - The New King

"Saudi Arabia’s new king inherits immediate challenges" PBS NewsHour 1/23/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who died Thursday at the age of 90, was laid to rest in Riyadh.  The new king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, pledged continuity with his brother's policies.  Judy Woodruff remembers the late monarch’s rule.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  New leaders took their places today in Saudi Arabia, in the wake of King Abdullah’s passing.  His death came as the world’s leading oil state, and home to Islam’s holiest sites, faces unparalleled challenges from within and without.

It was a simple funeral for one of the world’s richest and most powerful men.  King Abdullah’s remains lay beneath a cloth covering, as Muslim leaders paid their respects.  Later, hundreds gathered at a Riyadh cemetery as he was buried in an unmarked grave, in accordance with Islamic tradition.

Earlier, the new king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, pledged continuity with his brother’s policies.

KING SALMAN, Saudi Arabia (through interpreter):  We extend our condolences to the loyal nation of Saudi Arabia, as well as the Arab and Muslim nations, for the loss of our great man.  Our nation mostly needs unity these days.  And we will continue, God willing, in our efforts to unite and defend our nation.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Abdullah died Thursday, at the age of 90.  He’d served as the country’s ruler effectively for 20 years, the first decade while his half-brother, King Fahd, was in poor health.  Then, at Fahd’s death in 2005, Abdullah became king in his own right.

He ruled a land rife with social pressures.  Roughly half of the kingdom’s 20 million people are under the age of 25.  And despite great oil wealth, many lack jobs, housing or education.  So, Abdullah pressed limited reforms, including a $90 billion economic program in 2011.  And in a land dominated by a strict brand of Islam, he opened a university that allowed men and women to share classrooms, and he allowed women to enter political life.

"Will regional turmoil encourage stability inside Saudi Arabia?" PBS NewsHour 1/23/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta join Judy Woodruff to discuss the many regional crises at play as Saudi Arabia moves to new leadership.