Tuesday, 17 October, 2000, 15:42 GMT Syrian president in Saudi

The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has begun a visit to Saudi Arabia during which he's expected to have talks on the Middle East crisis.

The visit comes a few days before an Arab summit in Cairo. It's the new president's second foreign visit since he came to power in July. Meanwhile, American officials say the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, is going to Saudi Arabia following the Sharm el-Sheikh summit.

She's expected to brief Saudi leaders on the results of the talks and try to secure wider Arab coordination in the search for peace in the region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_976000/976997.stm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 17, 2000