(CNN) -- A new, faster version of the popular iPhone will hit stores June 19, Apple said Monday.
The new iPhone 3GS will have a camera that shoots video and zooms, among other new features.
The iPhone 3GS is billed as a more powerful, feature-laden follow-up to the 3G, which the company says revolutionized the way people use mobile phones.
The 3GS features a similar look to the current iPhone, complete with a sleek rectangular shape and a large touch screen. But the phone comes packed with new features inside, according to CNET reporter Erica Ogg, who blogged live from the event.
Ogg says the 3GS has a new camera that shoots video and zooms. A touch-screen feature also lets iPhone photographers tap the area of the photo they would like to put into focus, she says.
The new phone reportedly will have a longer battery life.
iPhone 3GS will be available in the United States on June 19 and will hit 80 countries by August, Ogg says.
The new iPhone carries a price tag similar to the old iPhone. A version with 16 gigabytes of storage will sell for $199 with a new contract; one with a 32-gigabyte storage capacity will cost $299. Apple also said it has dropped the price of the current iPhone 3G to $99 ahead of the release of the 3GS. The $99 model features 8 gigabytes of storage.
The announcements came at Apple's much-anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. The annual event was attended by 5,000 Apple tech developers, Fortune reports.
WWDC, as the conference is called, is known for its innovative announcements. Apple appeared to meet expectations of many tech bloggers, who had been awaiting a new iPhone model.
Perhaps the only disappointment was that Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not make an appearance on stage. There had been speculation online that the popular tech figure would make a cameo at the event. Jobs has been on medical leave since January.
Apple also discussed a new iPhone operating system, version 3.0, which adds a cut-copy-paste feature to current iPhones. Apple said the new software adds 100 new features.
One of those getting the most buzz was the Find My iPhone feature, which will be available only for customers of Mobile Me, an Apple service that lets users sync e-mail and other data between computers and iPhones.
If you lose your phone, Mobile Me will display a Google Map that shows where your iPhone is, as long as it's turned on. You can then send a message to the phone, and it will sound an alarm, alerting nearby people to save it for you. If you think you've lost the phone permanently, you can remotely wipe all your data; if you find your missing phone later, you can plug it into iTunes and restore all your data.
New iPhone applications were also discussed. Apple has gotten widespread praise for the fact that independent developers can create programs for the iPhone.
Read blogs from CNET and Fortune for details on the latest iPhone apps and other news from Monday's event.
Apple's laptops and computer operating systems were also discussed Monday.
Apple Senior Vice President Bertrand Serlet took the stage to demonstrate the company's newest operating system, called Snow Leopard. It will hit stores in September, although a "near-final" version was made available for developers Monday.
Serlet also said that Apple's Safari 4 browser, which was released in beta in February, will ship Monday.
Apple marketing head Philip Schiller also unveiled a new version of a 15-inch MacBook Pro, which he said will feature up to seven hours of battery life. The unibody aluminum laptop boasts a new battery that can handle 1,000 recharges and should last five years before its life begins to diminish, he said.
Phones remained the focus of the event, however.
Apple's phones are the second-best-selling consumer smartphones in the U.S., according to the NPD Group, an online market-research firm.
Smartphones are a category of mobile phones that act kind of like personal computers, allowing people to surf the Internet, share photos and keep up with e-mail while on the move. About a quarter of all consumer phones sold from January to April of this year were smartphones, NPD says.
The iPhone faces new competition from the Palm Pre, a smartphone that debuted Friday and claims to combine Apple's popular touch screen with a more functional keyboard, like the one found on a popular business-class smartphone, the BlackBerry.
CNN's Brandon Griggs contributed to this report.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Families plead with N. Korea for release
(CNN) -- The families of two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea pleaded for clemency, urging the communist government to "show compassion" and release them.
Demonstrators in South Korea last week call for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested in March and sentenced after a closed-door trial for what the state-run North Korean news agency KCNA called the "grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing." They are reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
In a joint statement Monday, their families said they were "shocked and devastated" by the trial and sentence, and urged Pyongyang "to show compassion and grant Laura and Euna clemency and allow them to return home to their families."
"Laura and Euna are journalists who went to the China-North Korea border to do a job," they said. "We don't know what really happened on March 17, but if they wandered across the border without permission, we apologize on their behalf and we are certain that they have also apologized."
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the United States is seeking the immediate release of the two journalists on humanitarian grounds.
"Obviously, we are deeply concerned about the length of the sentences and the fact that this trial was conducted totally in secret with no observers," she said. "And we are engaged in all possible ways, through every possible channel, to secure their release."
The families said Ling suffers from an unspecified "serious medical condition," and Lee has a 4-year-old daughter "who is displaying signs of anguish over the absence of her mother."
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"We believe that the three months they have already spent under arrest with little communication with their families is long enough," they said.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and Sweden represents U.S. interests there. The Swedish ambassador told the U.S. State Department that no observers were allowed in the courtroom for the trial, and the ambassador was allowed to see them only three times.
Senior Obama administration officials told CNN that several weeks ago, Clinton wrote a letter to the North Korean leadership appealing for the journalists' release on humanitarian grounds. In the letter, officials said, Clinton told the North Koreans that the families were deeply concerned about the women and went into details on their personal situations -- that Ling has serious health problems and Lee is the mother of a young child.
There has been no response from the North Koreans, the officials said, and Clinton told reporters she would not discuss "private diplomatic efforts." But she said Washington views the case as something separate from the ongoing diplomatic standoff over North Korea's nuclear arms program.
Several senior administration officials said the idea of sending either Gore or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Pyongyang on a mission to get the journalists released has been floated to the North Koreans.
No answer has come so far, but the expectation has been that once the trial ended, the North would accept a visit by either Gore or Richardson to secure the journalists' release, the officials said.
Richardson was cautiously optimistic about the case on Monday. "The sentence was harsh, but the good news in the sentence is it was not for espionage -- it was for entering illegally, hostile acts," he told CNN. "The rhetoric of the North Koreans has not been terribly harsh against the two women," he added.
Officials said if precedent is any indicator, and given the way the women have been treated -- staying in a hotel for the past few months -- it is possible the women will never see the inside of a prison.
Richardson traveled to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, several times to secure the release of an American detainee in 1996 and facilitate the return of the bodies of POWs from the Korean War. In the 1996 case, the United States paid the isolated communist state what were called "hotel bills" for his stay.
Officials said the issue of a possible payment to North Korea has not yet been discussed, but they said the United States would not be averse to playing along.
CNN's Elise Labott contributed to this report.
Demonstrators in South Korea last week call for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested in March and sentenced after a closed-door trial for what the state-run North Korean news agency KCNA called the "grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing." They are reporters for California-based Current TV, a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
In a joint statement Monday, their families said they were "shocked and devastated" by the trial and sentence, and urged Pyongyang "to show compassion and grant Laura and Euna clemency and allow them to return home to their families."
"Laura and Euna are journalists who went to the China-North Korea border to do a job," they said. "We don't know what really happened on March 17, but if they wandered across the border without permission, we apologize on their behalf and we are certain that they have also apologized."
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the United States is seeking the immediate release of the two journalists on humanitarian grounds.
"Obviously, we are deeply concerned about the length of the sentences and the fact that this trial was conducted totally in secret with no observers," she said. "And we are engaged in all possible ways, through every possible channel, to secure their release."
The families said Ling suffers from an unspecified "serious medical condition," and Lee has a 4-year-old daughter "who is displaying signs of anguish over the absence of her mother."
Don't Miss
"We believe that the three months they have already spent under arrest with little communication with their families is long enough," they said.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and Sweden represents U.S. interests there. The Swedish ambassador told the U.S. State Department that no observers were allowed in the courtroom for the trial, and the ambassador was allowed to see them only three times.
Senior Obama administration officials told CNN that several weeks ago, Clinton wrote a letter to the North Korean leadership appealing for the journalists' release on humanitarian grounds. In the letter, officials said, Clinton told the North Koreans that the families were deeply concerned about the women and went into details on their personal situations -- that Ling has serious health problems and Lee is the mother of a young child.
There has been no response from the North Koreans, the officials said, and Clinton told reporters she would not discuss "private diplomatic efforts." But she said Washington views the case as something separate from the ongoing diplomatic standoff over North Korea's nuclear arms program.
Several senior administration officials said the idea of sending either Gore or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Pyongyang on a mission to get the journalists released has been floated to the North Koreans.
No answer has come so far, but the expectation has been that once the trial ended, the North would accept a visit by either Gore or Richardson to secure the journalists' release, the officials said.
Richardson was cautiously optimistic about the case on Monday. "The sentence was harsh, but the good news in the sentence is it was not for espionage -- it was for entering illegally, hostile acts," he told CNN. "The rhetoric of the North Koreans has not been terribly harsh against the two women," he added.
Officials said if precedent is any indicator, and given the way the women have been treated -- staying in a hotel for the past few months -- it is possible the women will never see the inside of a prison.
Richardson traveled to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, several times to secure the release of an American detainee in 1996 and facilitate the return of the bodies of POWs from the Korean War. In the 1996 case, the United States paid the isolated communist state what were called "hotel bills" for his stay.
Officials said the issue of a possible payment to North Korea has not yet been discussed, but they said the United States would not be averse to playing along.
CNN's Elise Labott contributed to this report.
First Gitmo detainee arrives in U.S. for trial
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Guantanamo Bay detainee indicted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa arrived in New York on Tuesday to face criminal charges.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is the first Guantanamo detainee to be transferred to the U.S. for prosecution.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is the first detainee held at Guantanamo to be transferred to the United States to face criminal prosecution. The Tanzanian national has been held at the camp in Cuba since September 2006.
The 1998 embassy attacks are among several crimes for which Ghailani has been indicted in New York.
He was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and transported to Guantanamo two years later.
In the 1998 bombings, 224 people were killed, including 12 Americans.
Ghailani's arrival in New York comes amid mounting tension between Congress and President Obama over the planned closing of Guantanamo. Ghailani was transferred from the custody of the Defense Department to the Southern District of New York by the U.S. Marshals Service.
He was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which has housed numerous terrorism suspects over the years, and was expected to make his initial appearance in Manhattan federal court later Tuesday, according to the Justice Department.
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Ghailani faces 286 counts in the indictment against him.
Among other alleged crimes, Ghailani is accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda to kill Americans anywhere in the world. He also faces separate charges of murder for the deaths of each of the 224 people killed in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya and various other offenses related to the bombings.
"With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
"The Justice Department has a long history of securely detaining and successfully prosecuting terror suspects through the criminal justice system, and we will bring that experience to bear in seeking justice in this case."
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is the first Guantanamo detainee to be transferred to the U.S. for prosecution.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is the first detainee held at Guantanamo to be transferred to the United States to face criminal prosecution. The Tanzanian national has been held at the camp in Cuba since September 2006.
The 1998 embassy attacks are among several crimes for which Ghailani has been indicted in New York.
He was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and transported to Guantanamo two years later.
In the 1998 bombings, 224 people were killed, including 12 Americans.
Ghailani's arrival in New York comes amid mounting tension between Congress and President Obama over the planned closing of Guantanamo. Ghailani was transferred from the custody of the Defense Department to the Southern District of New York by the U.S. Marshals Service.
He was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which has housed numerous terrorism suspects over the years, and was expected to make his initial appearance in Manhattan federal court later Tuesday, according to the Justice Department.
Don't Miss
Ghailani faces 286 counts in the indictment against him.
Among other alleged crimes, Ghailani is accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda to kill Americans anywhere in the world. He also faces separate charges of murder for the deaths of each of the 224 people killed in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya and various other offenses related to the bombings.
"With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
"The Justice Department has a long history of securely detaining and successfully prosecuting terror suspects through the criminal justice system, and we will bring that experience to bear in seeking justice in this case."
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Plane's recorders may never be found, searchers say
PARIS, France (CNN) -- French officials -- who said there is now no hope that anyone survived the crash of an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic -- said Wednesday they may never find the doomed jets flight data recorders.
A French AWACS reconnaissance aircraft prepares to leave its Dakar, Senegal base to search the crash zone.
The Airbus 330, with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, disappeared from radar screens, some three hours after it took off from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil en route to Paris.
A memorial for the victims of Flight AF 447, which included 61 people from France, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans and people from 29 other countries, will take place at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. GMT). Brazil has declared three days of mourning.
Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said aircraft encountered heavy turbulence about 02:15 a.m. local time Monday (10:15 p.m. ET Sunday). At that point, the plane's automatic system initiated a four-minute exchange of messages to the company's maintenance computers, indicating "several pieces of aircraft equipment were at fault or had broken down."
The jet, which was flying at 35,000 feet and at 521 mph, also sent a warning that it had lost pressure, the Brazilian air force said. Its last known contact occurred at 02:33 a.m., the Brazilian air force spokesman added. Map of Flight AF 447's flightpath »
"We need time to reach the recorders," said Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of France's Accident Investigation Bureau.
The recorders give off a locator signal that lasts for up to 30 days, and the French government has sent a research vessel with a deep-diving submersible on board to the area where the plane's debris was found.
French officials said weather conditions at the site -- believed to be a major factor in the crash -- remain "extremely difficult" and the depth of the Atlantic near the sites where wreckage was found is around 7,000 meters (21,000 feet).
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Missing plane probably crashed into Atlantic
Former royal, Riverdance star among plane's missing
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"Even in history ... recorders from time to time were found after the 30 days. But I'm not so optimistic," said Arslanian at a press conference Wednesday. "It's not only deep it's also very mountainous at that place of the ocean."
Arslanian said answers on what caused the crash could take a long time.
"It could be long, we can not do with 80 percent understanding," said Arslanian. "This catastrophe is the worst that our country has known in our country's air history."
He said there appeared to be no problems with Flight AF 447 before take-off, but that everything had to be "checked and verified."
On Tuesday authorities found debris from the jet in two separate debris fields 60 km apart located about 650 km (400 miles) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha Islands, an archipelago 355 kilometers (220 miles) off the northeast coast of Brazil.
Among the wreckage was an airplane seat, metal debris, an orange float, a drum and an oil spill, French officials said.
French investigators were first mobilized on Monday, with four teams set up to conduct the probe. One has been tasked with recovering the wreck and flight recorders, the second group are looking at the aircraft's maintenance history, the third checking the operations of the plane, and the last group studying the plane's systems and equipment.
The investigation's team leader, Alain Bouillard, said their first preliminary report would be submitted by the end of June.
A French AWACS reconnaissance aircraft prepares to leave its Dakar, Senegal base to search the crash zone.
The Airbus 330, with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, disappeared from radar screens, some three hours after it took off from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil en route to Paris.
A memorial for the victims of Flight AF 447, which included 61 people from France, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans and people from 29 other countries, will take place at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. GMT). Brazil has declared three days of mourning.
Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said aircraft encountered heavy turbulence about 02:15 a.m. local time Monday (10:15 p.m. ET Sunday). At that point, the plane's automatic system initiated a four-minute exchange of messages to the company's maintenance computers, indicating "several pieces of aircraft equipment were at fault or had broken down."
The jet, which was flying at 35,000 feet and at 521 mph, also sent a warning that it had lost pressure, the Brazilian air force said. Its last known contact occurred at 02:33 a.m., the Brazilian air force spokesman added. Map of Flight AF 447's flightpath »
"We need time to reach the recorders," said Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of France's Accident Investigation Bureau.
The recorders give off a locator signal that lasts for up to 30 days, and the French government has sent a research vessel with a deep-diving submersible on board to the area where the plane's debris was found.
French officials said weather conditions at the site -- believed to be a major factor in the crash -- remain "extremely difficult" and the depth of the Atlantic near the sites where wreckage was found is around 7,000 meters (21,000 feet).
Don't Miss
Airbus A330-200 called ultra-modern, safe
Missing plane probably crashed into Atlantic
Former royal, Riverdance star among plane's missing
iReport.com: Send photos, videos
"Even in history ... recorders from time to time were found after the 30 days. But I'm not so optimistic," said Arslanian at a press conference Wednesday. "It's not only deep it's also very mountainous at that place of the ocean."
Arslanian said answers on what caused the crash could take a long time.
"It could be long, we can not do with 80 percent understanding," said Arslanian. "This catastrophe is the worst that our country has known in our country's air history."
He said there appeared to be no problems with Flight AF 447 before take-off, but that everything had to be "checked and verified."
On Tuesday authorities found debris from the jet in two separate debris fields 60 km apart located about 650 km (400 miles) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha Islands, an archipelago 355 kilometers (220 miles) off the northeast coast of Brazil.
Among the wreckage was an airplane seat, metal debris, an orange float, a drum and an oil spill, French officials said.
French investigators were first mobilized on Monday, with four teams set up to conduct the probe. One has been tasked with recovering the wreck and flight recorders, the second group are looking at the aircraft's maintenance history, the third checking the operations of the plane, and the last group studying the plane's systems and equipment.
The investigation's team leader, Alain Bouillard, said their first preliminary report would be submitted by the end of June.
Clergy Rally in Support Of Same-Sex Marriage
By Hamil R. HarrisWashington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 3, 2009
A diverse coalition of more than 100 clergy gathered in a Southeast Washington church yesterday to show their support for same-sex marriages in the District.
We declare that our faith calls us to affirm marriage equality for loving, same-sex couples," said the Rev. Dennis Wiley, pastor of the Covenant Baptist Church, as he stood in the pulpit of his church before religious leaders from all eight wards of the city.
The clergy, who have formed a group called D.C. Clergy United for Marriage and Equality, plan to challenge the efforts of a more conservative group of pastors who are pushing for a referendum on same-sex marriage. Last month, the D.C. Council voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, and some council members plan to introduce a bill to allow the marriages to be performed in the District. Some members of Congress have said they will attempt to block same-sex marriage from becoming legal in the District.
The group supporting same-sex marriage -- composed of clergy from a wide range of Christian faiths and several rabbis -- was formed in response to a group of pastors led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville. Together with the Ministers Conference of Washington, D.C., and Vicinity, the more conservative pastors have formed the Stand Up for Marriage Coalition to lobby against the D.C. Council legislation on same-sex marriage.
The Rev. Robert Hardies, senior minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in the District, yesterday criticized the language some opponents of same-sex marriage have used in the debate. He cited a prediction by council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) that same-sex marriage would result in "civil war" in the city and Jackson's labeling the council bill a "declaration of war."
"I believe it is wrong to use the language of war to speak about a matter of love," Hardies said, adding, "We can and we must have an open and robust conversation without tearing our community apart."
The Rev. Alton B. Pollard III, the dean of the divinity school at Howard University, evoked the message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his "Letter From Birmingham Jail," in which King challenged white ministers to be more tolerant of people of other races.
if "Our movement toward a more perfect union also and necessarily includes the diverse expressions of human love," Pollard said. "Same-gender loving couples deserve our full and unfettered support to legally marry precisely because of love."
There also was an acknowledgement that people of faith differ on the issue.
"Recognizing that there is heartfelt disagreement on this issue, we call on all people of the District of Columbia to engage in respectful and loving dialogue on marriage equality," said a joint statement issued by the group.
A diverse coalition of more than 100 clergy gathered in a Southeast Washington church yesterday to show their support for same-sex marriages in the District.
We declare that our faith calls us to affirm marriage equality for loving, same-sex couples," said the Rev. Dennis Wiley, pastor of the Covenant Baptist Church, as he stood in the pulpit of his church before religious leaders from all eight wards of the city.
The clergy, who have formed a group called D.C. Clergy United for Marriage and Equality, plan to challenge the efforts of a more conservative group of pastors who are pushing for a referendum on same-sex marriage. Last month, the D.C. Council voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, and some council members plan to introduce a bill to allow the marriages to be performed in the District. Some members of Congress have said they will attempt to block same-sex marriage from becoming legal in the District.
The group supporting same-sex marriage -- composed of clergy from a wide range of Christian faiths and several rabbis -- was formed in response to a group of pastors led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville. Together with the Ministers Conference of Washington, D.C., and Vicinity, the more conservative pastors have formed the Stand Up for Marriage Coalition to lobby against the D.C. Council legislation on same-sex marriage.
The Rev. Robert Hardies, senior minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in the District, yesterday criticized the language some opponents of same-sex marriage have used in the debate. He cited a prediction by council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) that same-sex marriage would result in "civil war" in the city and Jackson's labeling the council bill a "declaration of war."
"I believe it is wrong to use the language of war to speak about a matter of love," Hardies said, adding, "We can and we must have an open and robust conversation without tearing our community apart."
The Rev. Alton B. Pollard III, the dean of the divinity school at Howard University, evoked the message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his "Letter From Birmingham Jail," in which King challenged white ministers to be more tolerant of people of other races.
if "Our movement toward a more perfect union also and necessarily includes the diverse expressions of human love," Pollard said. "Same-gender loving couples deserve our full and unfettered support to legally marry precisely because of love."
There also was an acknowledgement that people of faith differ on the issue.
"Recognizing that there is heartfelt disagreement on this issue, we call on all people of the District of Columbia to engage in respectful and loving dialogue on marriage equality," said a joint statement issued by the group.
King Abdullah Greets Obama in Saudi Arabia
By Scott WilsonWashington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 3, 2009; 8:09 AM
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 3--American flags are hanging next to the green banner of the Saudi kingdom on the street-light poles of this desert capital, a celebratory nod to the arrival of President Obama, who on Wednesday landed here to begin a five-day tour through the Middle East and Europe.
Obama will hold a day of meetings with King Abdullah on Iran's nuclear program and the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace process, among other issues. It is his first presidential visit to the Arab Middle East.
At a tarmac welcoming ceremony, Obama was greeted by the 84-year-old Saudi leader. The two strode down a red carpet lined by ranks of Saudi soldiers, U.S. and Saudi flags flying taut in a brisk, dry wind. A military band then played the Star-Spangled Banner.
The leaders were then scheduled to travel to King Abdullah's farm at Jenadriyah, not far from Riyadh. The king hosted a dinner there last year for then-President Bush featuring an Arabian horse show and a falconry exhibition.
This stop was a late addition to Obama's itinerary, the centerpiece of which is his Thursday address in Cairo to the Islamic world.
It comes as Obama is pushing for early progress on Middle East peace efforts and reaching out to Iran's leaders over their nuclear program - two major and intertwined foreign policy gambits that so far have yielded few results.
With its vast oil wealth and supreme religious importance in the Islamic world as the site of Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia has long been a leading Sunni Arab player in the region, an influence Abdullah has sought to deepen in recent yearsAbdullah has asserted Saudi diplomacy aggressively in Lebanon and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was the first to propose broad Arab recognition of Israel in return for its withdrawal from all territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, and he has sought in the past to broker unity government agreements between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.
Obama has suggested that Abdullah's peace proposal, adopted by the Arab League in 2002 and now known as the Arab Peace Initiative, may serve as a way to revive talks between Israelis, Palestinians and Arab countries, only two of which now recognize the Jewish state.
After a meeting with Obama last month, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu indicated that he would welcome more regional participation in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He said he "would like to broaden the circle of peace to include others in the Arab world, if we could."
Those talks are being held up now by Palestinian concerns over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and Netanyahu's refusal to endorse the creation of an independent Palestinian state as the best way to achieve peace.
The Obama administration may be taking more of an outside in view of the conflict, hoping a gesture from Arab nations such as this one might push Israel toward peace with the Palestinians. Obama has already hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, in addition to Netanyahu. The U.S. president is meet two other key players in regional peace efforts on this trip -- Saudi Arabia's Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
After his meeting with Obama last week, Abbas said: "I believe that if the Israelis would withdraw from all occupied Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese land, the Arab world will be ready to have normal relationships with the state of Israel."
But one element of the Arab Peace Initiative that some Israeli officials say must be removed is its endorsement of the so-called right of return. That would allow Palestinian refugees, who along with their descendents number in the millions, to return to homes inside Israel. If many of them did so, Israel's character as a Jewish-majority state would be threatened.
Obama may be here seeking Abdullah's agreement to soften that reference, along with encouraging some other steps toward normalization.
Saudi officials have privately expressed frustration over being asked to make concessions when the Israeli government continues to build settlements in territory envisioned as part of the future Palestinian state. By endorsing the so-called roadmap in 2003, Israel's government agreed to "freeze all settlement activity."
Obama, too, is at odds with Netanyahu over the settlement issue, although it is unclear what pressure if any he intends to exert on the Israeli government to bring such construction to a halt. The broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one he has said he intends to address in his speech at Cairo University, while warning that he will not propose a specific plan for peace.
Netanyahu is interested in regional talks -- something past Israeli governments have strenuously resisted -- because he believes Israel's interests and those of Sunni Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia are aligned on one major issue: Iran's nuclear program.
While Israel considers what it believes is Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon to be an existential threat, Saudi Arabia sees it as a destabilizing force threatening its own regional influence.
Becoming the region's second nuclear power -- Israel has its own undeclared nuclear weapons program - would be the latest and largest Iranian encroachment on traditional Saudi turf.
Private Saudi money, for example, funded the armed Islamist group Hamas for years. But the group now receives money and military training from Shiite Iran, as well. In Lebanon, too, Saudi and Iranian-backed parties are at odds for decisive control of the government.
By Scott WilsonWashington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 3, 2009; 8:09 AM
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 3--American flags are hanging next to the green banner of the Saudi kingdom on the street-light poles of this desert capital, a celebratory nod to the arrival of President Obama, who on Wednesday landed here to begin a five-day tour through the Middle East and Europe.
Obama will hold a day of meetings with King Abdullah on Iran's nuclear program and the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace process, among other issues. It is his first presidential visit to the Arab Middle East.
At a tarmac welcoming ceremony, Obama was greeted by the 84-year-old Saudi leader. The two strode down a red carpet lined by ranks of Saudi soldiers, U.S. and Saudi flags flying taut in a brisk, dry wind. A military band then played the Star-Spangled Banner.
The leaders were then scheduled to travel to King Abdullah's farm at Jenadriyah, not far from Riyadh. The king hosted a dinner there last year for then-President Bush featuring an Arabian horse show and a falconry exhibition.
This stop was a late addition to Obama's itinerary, the centerpiece of which is his Thursday address in Cairo to the Islamic world.
It comes as Obama is pushing for early progress on Middle East peace efforts and reaching out to Iran's leaders over their nuclear program - two major and intertwined foreign policy gambits that so far have yielded few results.
With its vast oil wealth and supreme religious importance in the Islamic world as the site of Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia has long been a leading Sunni Arab player in the region, an influence Abdullah has sought to deepen in recent yearsAbdullah has asserted Saudi diplomacy aggressively in Lebanon and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was the first to propose broad Arab recognition of Israel in return for its withdrawal from all territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, and he has sought in the past to broker unity government agreements between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.
Obama has suggested that Abdullah's peace proposal, adopted by the Arab League in 2002 and now known as the Arab Peace Initiative, may serve as a way to revive talks between Israelis, Palestinians and Arab countries, only two of which now recognize the Jewish state.
After a meeting with Obama last month, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu indicated that he would welcome more regional participation in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He said he "would like to broaden the circle of peace to include others in the Arab world, if we could."
Those talks are being held up now by Palestinian concerns over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and Netanyahu's refusal to endorse the creation of an independent Palestinian state as the best way to achieve peace.
The Obama administration may be taking more of an outside in view of the conflict, hoping a gesture from Arab nations such as this one might push Israel toward peace with the Palestinians. Obama has already hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, in addition to Netanyahu. The U.S. president is meet two other key players in regional peace efforts on this trip -- Saudi Arabia's Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
After his meeting with Obama last week, Abbas said: "I believe that if the Israelis would withdraw from all occupied Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese land, the Arab world will be ready to have normal relationships with the state of Israel."
But one element of the Arab Peace Initiative that some Israeli officials say must be removed is its endorsement of the so-called right of return. That would allow Palestinian refugees, who along with their descendents number in the millions, to return to homes inside Israel. If many of them did so, Israel's character as a Jewish-majority state would be threatened.
Obama may be here seeking Abdullah's agreement to soften that reference, along with encouraging some other steps toward normalization.
Saudi officials have privately expressed frustration over being asked to make concessions when the Israeli government continues to build settlements in territory envisioned as part of the future Palestinian state. By endorsing the so-called roadmap in 2003, Israel's government agreed to "freeze all settlement activity."
Obama, too, is at odds with Netanyahu over the settlement issue, although it is unclear what pressure if any he intends to exert on the Israeli government to bring such construction to a halt. The broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one he has said he intends to address in his speech at Cairo University, while warning that he will not propose a specific plan for peace.
Netanyahu is interested in regional talks -- something past Israeli governments have strenuously resisted -- because he believes Israel's interests and those of Sunni Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia are aligned on one major issue: Iran's nuclear program.
While Israel considers what it believes is Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon to be an existential threat, Saudi Arabia sees it as a destabilizing force threatening its own regional influence.
Becoming the region's second nuclear power -- Israel has its own undeclared nuclear weapons program - would be the latest and largest Iranian encroachment on traditional Saudi turf.
Private Saudi money, for example, funded the armed Islamist group Hamas for years. But the group now receives money and military training from Shiite Iran, as well. In Lebanon, too, Saudi and Iranian-backed parties are at odds for decisive control of the government.
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