Vote near, Saudis push to modernize
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Even as Saudi Arabia struggles internally with violent extremists and externally with its image as the country that produced most of the attackers of Sept. 11, 2001, the desert kingdom's rulers are moving on multiple fronts to modernize and moderate their nation.
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Islamist-backed candidates triumphed  over tribal opponents and businessmen in Saudi Arabia's  landmark men-only elections in the capital Riyadh, according to  preliminary results released Friday.
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The mixture of alarm, condemnation and muted admiration with which Saudis have reacted to Monday&#39;s raid on the US consulate in Jeddah reveals the variety of opinion in a country
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Saudi Arabia remains tight-lipped over 10 terror funding arrests, but relatives say the men are pro-reform activists.
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Osama bin Laden's latest message, his first directed specifically at Saudis in years, has been widely seen as an attempt to show he is still a player in his homeland despite a security clampdown that has sharply limited al-Qaida's field for terrorist operations in the conservative kingdom.
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Voting got under way on Saturday in some overseas French territories in the decisive round of parliamentary elections which are expected to hand President Nicolas Sarkozy a huge majority for his reform plans.
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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia  - The screen got bigger this year and the luminaries slightly more illustrious.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- When university professor Khalid al-Dakhil was growing up, clergymen had a say in everything.
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Only about a quarter of voters in the Saudi capital Riyadh register for the first elections in 40 years, Saudi media says.
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The Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia, who have made great strides in recent years, are worried that those gains will be rolled back as sectarian tensions rise across the region.
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Saudi men over 21 are urged to register to vote ahead of municipal elections - the first in 40 years.
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Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, with a fresh election triumph under his belt, said he would press on with reforms to turn his secular, Muslim country into a modern democracy on a par with its European neighbors.
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Moroccans chose their political future Friday in elections that could give an Islamic party greater power than ever before in a country seen as a pillar of moderation in the Arab world.
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Modernisers and traditionalists are competing for the soul of the party.
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A senior Saudi prince says he plans to form a political party and criticises other royals for blocking reform.
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Hand-picked voters chose members of a government advisory panel Saturday in this tiny oil-rich country's first election, the Arab world's latest tentative step toward democracy.
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Saudi Arabia began its tentative experiment in democracy Thursday as thousands of men filed into schools, government offices and streetside tents to cast what for many were the first votes of their lives.