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Saudi security forces are capable of taking on any terrorist group, Prince Miteb ibn Abdullah, assistant deputy commander of the National Guard for military affairs, said yesterday. “Our country will remain strong in the face of destruction and terrorism,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying. Prince Miteb’s statement came after security forces killed four terrorists in a gunbattle in Yanbu. The four killed five Westerners and a National Guard security officer and wounded 33 others in the city during the attacks on Saturday morning. Prince Saud ibn Abdullah ibn Thunayyan, chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and...

YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) - American and European families packed their bags Sunday after a deadly attack on foreigners, and traumatized Saudi schoolchildren recounted how the attackers proudly summoned them to watch them drag a victim's body through the streets. The streets of Yanbu were eerily quiet a day after four brothers went on a bloody rampage that killed five Westerners and a Saudi. But behind closed doors, foreigners scrambled to book flights and Saudis comforted children shocked by the violence. "I couldn't eat and I couldn't sleep the whole night. I have been having nightmares," said an 18-year-old student...

AIRO, May 2 — The Swedish-Swiss engineering company whose five engineers were shot to death by Saudi militants in Saudi Arabia said today that it was evacuating some 100 engineers and family members from the kingdom.The company, ABB Lummus, a Houston-based subsidiary of ABB, the giant engineering and oil services firm, gave employees the choice to stay with increased security or to depart and they all chose to leave, said Bjorn Edlund, the spokesman for the firm at its corporate headquarters in Switzerland.The attackers, believed to be religious militants, burst into an engineering office on Saturday in the Saudi coastal...

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Gunmen killed four and wounded two Houston-based workers of an international engineering company Saturday. The attackers engaged Saudi police in a bloody battle, shooting wildly in a residential compound and dragging a naked victim behind their getaway car. In all, the gunmen in the city of Yanbu killed six Westerners and wounded at least 25. Police killed four gunmen. Saudi officials blamed the attack on Islamic militants. The attack on workers from ABB Lummus Global's office in west Houston was the latest in a rash of violence against contractors with Houston-based firms working in foreign countries,...

Saudi interior ministry reports shooting-car bomb attack Saturday on unidentified compound in Red Sea port of Yanbu. Unconfirmed details of at least 6 Westerners killed in six-hour attacks – 2 Britons, 1 American, 1 Australian and possibly 1 Italian – one outside a hotel. British chairman of local oil company reports 17 killed when gunmen drove from industrial area to downtown firing all the way. DEBKAfile adds: Still not clear if attack targeted Yanbu’s big oil terminal, main Saudi oil export outlet to the West. If so, it would be first time Saudi oil resources were struck by terrorists exactly...

.......What was striking about the letter was that the entire first page was about how Bush misleads, but not a single sentence about how Kerry would lead. Even as Bush flounders in self-righteousness, you have to wonder if the ABB (Anybody But Bush) crowd is lulling themselves into a reverse trap. Letters like this make you wonder if ABB also means All But Blind. The reality is there is a core on folks on the right who believe Bush is an appointed guardian of unilateral American might. There is a core of people on the left who believe Bush is...

<p>We Built This City is the single worst single ever constructed, according to Blender's ranking of reeking tunes.</p>

An al Qaeda Hit List?By Jeremy Reynalds (bio) Other Articles by Jeremy Reynalds Back to News / Home PageApparently determined not to be outdone by the United States, the terrorist group al Qaeda (or a sympathizer) has released a video with a deck of cards featuring its own most wanted. The "cards" (dangling above flames), could be considered an al Qaeda hit list. They feature a wide variety of individuals including Bush administration figures, lawmakers, the Spanish and Italian prime ministers and conservative American media personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O' Reilly. Notably, the card sequence begins...

The world's biggest battery was plugged in yesterday to provide emergency power to one of the United States' most isolated cities.   Light relief: the battery that's bigger than a football pitch The rechargable battery, which at 2,000 square metres is bigger than a football pitch and weighs 1,300 tonnes, was manufactured by power components specialist ABB to provide electricity to Fairbanks, Alaska's second-largest city, in the event of a blackout.Stored in a warehouse near the city, where temperatures plunge to -51 degrees Centigrade [-60°F] in winter, the battery will provide 40 megawatts of power - enough for around 12,000...