Saudi king, 84, taken to hospital for tests

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has been admitted to a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, for medical tests due to inflammation of the gallbladder.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the 84-yearold monarch was being tested at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital.

King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of brothers who have held power since the death of their father and founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz.

Salman has empowered his 34-year-old son,

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as his successor.

The crown prince’s assertive and bold style of leadership, as well as his consolidation of power and sidelining of potential rivals, has been controversial.

With the support of his father, Prince Mohammed has transformed the kingdom in recent years, opening it up to tourists and eroding decades of ultraconservative restrictions on entertainment and women’s rights as he tries to diversify the Saudi economy away from reliance on oil exports.

The prince has also detained dozens of activists and critics, overseen a devastating war in Yemen and rounded up top members of the royal family in his quest for power.

Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has berated construction managers over the building of a hospital, in comments that may indicate the country is struggling to secure necessary supplies amid Us-led sanctions and a coronavirus lockdown.

During a visit to the construction site in Pyongyang, Mr Kim lamented that his ambitious project of building a new general hospital was being carried out in a “careless manner” and without a proper budget.

He also ordered all officials responsible to be replaced, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

The report said Kim accused construction managers of making a “serious digression” from the ruling party’s policy over the supply of materials and equipment by “burdening the people by encouraging all kinds of ‘assistance’”, which apparently indicated rising complaints among people who were mobilised for its construction.

Antwerp: The prosecutor’s office in the Belgian city has launched a judicial investigation following the death of a 29-year-old Algerian man hours after his arrest by police.

Amid accusation of police brutality on social media under the hashtag #Murderinantwerp, police spokesman Sven Lommaert said that police officers intervened at a cafe terrace in central Antwerp after the man started assaulting people and throwing furniture around.

The Antwerp prosecutor’s office said police officers were forced to handcuff the man.

“At a certain point, the man became unwell and the emergency services were notified. The man was taken in critical condition to the hospital where he died last night,” the office said.

Mr Lommaert declined to give details about the investigation but said the man looked disturbed when police arrived at the scene on Sunday.