where king abdullah threw his verbal shoe at obama the next headline reads saudi arabia's king abdullah passed away this is. in the islamic paper and apparently after the phone call sources stated that king abdullah was furious and then suffered a sudden heart attack doctors ran to his rescue but were unable to save him he was pronounced dead but his death was not reported due to the sensitive conditions that exist in the region the saudi arabian government will reject this claim but the ball is in their court to prove he is the law no it was just a little gas. and oil but it could be you know a planted headline that this is like you throw too many shoes at us king abdullah fake king you know this is the headline that you will be reading you're going to die of a sudden heart attack it could be you falling from a plane from thirty thousand feet in the air who knows you're going to die some way what a stroppy little drama queen that king abdullah. feels like that character in that t.v. show i'm having a hard to like fred sanford from sanford as. little as a blue king abdullah so saudi ara

there have been demonstrations in jordan, for example, where king abdullah has already replaced his entire cabinet. earlier this morning, i talked to the king's uncle, prince assan, about the situation there. >> sporadic demonstrations. i think that there is a lot of sympathy and empathy with the youth movement that came into the streets on the 25th of january in egypt. it's all about youth, equity. that is to say unemployment and i think that this will not go away whatever new government takes over. >> schieffer: do you think it would help the situation across the region if president mubarak stepped down now? >> well, i think the question is not whether he'll step down. he said he will step down, but it's a question of what follows, and as i understand his vice president has had the agreement of all the parties to discuss the constitution. i make a distinction that in jordan, we already have a constitution, which i don't think is a subject of major controversy. but in terms of the immediate future, i just want to say that this region is suffering from two elephants in the room. one is the

. >>> in jordan king abdullah has replaced the prime minister. the country's leaders are apparently concerned that the demonstrations in tunisia and egypt could spread to jordan. several thousand jordanians have been holding rallies on a daily basis inspired by the mass demonstrations in tunisia and egypt. people are protesting inflation and high unemployment. on tuesday, the cabinet of prime minister samir rifai stepped down. the government worked out measures to raise wages for public servants two weeks ago. he failed to satisfy the protesters and more people joined the demonstrations. king abdullah appointed marouf bakhit as the next prime minister and asked him to form a new cabinet. bakhit is a former conservative premier with a military background. opposition parties dismissed the appointment saying bakhit is unlikely to reform the country. >>> and in business news, u.s. manufacturing grew in january at the fastest clip since may 2004 indicating the sector will continue to feel the recovery this year. the institute for supply management's m

obama spoke with british prime minister david cameron, king abdullah of jordan, and the prime minister of turkey, emphasizing that democracy will bring more, not less, stability to the region. >>> and this country's top military officer left for the middle east today. admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, will meet with jordan's king abdullah and prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel to reassure them of u.s. support. >>> and a program note. david gregory will have much more on the revolution in egypt tomorrow on "meet the press," and as congress prepares to take on major legislation, a sunday exclusive with house speaker john boehner. that's tomorrow morning here on nbc. >>> when "nightly news" continues this saturday evening, a deadly explosion raises new questions about the safety of america's gas pipelines. we'll be right back. >>> there are new questions about the safety of this country's gas pipelines, millions of miles of them, after a series of explosions this week, including one in pennsylvania that left five people dead. nbc's tom costello has more tonight.

. >> susie: also today, saudi arabia's king abdullah went on the offensive, promising his subjects $36 billion of benefits to deal with housing, education, and unemployment issues. our guest tonight was recently in egypt and saudi arabia. he is the chief executive of pimco, the world's largest bond fund. joining us now, mohamed el- erian. great to see you again. >> thank you. >> susie: let's start talking about saudi arabia. do you think that there's a risk of the revolt in the middle east spreading to saudi arabia? >> it's possible but not probable. in the sense that saudi arabia is a higher per capita income. as you just noted king abdullah is trying to get ahead of this process by recognizing that people are worse off because of higher commodity prices and higher food prices. and saudi arabia is able to pre-empt, if you like, much of the, plus it's a monarchy, plus it has legitimacy in terms of... so i think we'll see more generally going forward is a lot more differentiation within the middle east and north africa. >> susie: meanwhile investors and traders are factoring in a lot of

but understand something -- that yes, the regimes in the middle east from king abdullah to the saudi king abdullah, across north africa and the middle east, they have to be very worried about the impact of this. but remember that the only arab democracy that we currently have in this region is the one built by the united states in iraq some when we talk about democracy, the way we talk about it here in the west has a fundamentally different meaning than it has in the middle east. and because you have so many developed muslims across this region, if they are given the vote, the chances are you're not going to get a democracy but very strong islamists, influences, just as we saw in 2006 with the vote in gaza. remember, we're hearing the same kind of talk now with the muslim brotherhood in egypt. we hear the brotherhood would only get 20, 30% of the vote. that's the same percentage we were told hamas would get in gaza. guess what? they got 70% of the vote. tread very carefully here. >> threat me clear this up before we go. who is in still in charge? >> omar suleiman >> egyptians are not

to as you said a moment ago we don't know the armies into tunisia we don't know either the king king abdullah of jordan is trying to maintain his throne and maintain stability and we'll see whether he succeeds he and his family have managed to do it for sixty is king abdullah of saudi arabia is also trying to maintain what is the most repressive regime here and we'll see whether he is able to keep to keep the lead but there is there is it's more a question of what which told me no is not at risk rather than saying where the next one is going to be now i'm i'm running very low on time here but when it comes to the regional unrest whether it's north africa the middle east are these just purely domestic issues can the west have any true role in this or is it used to seeing itself is grossly powerless as the chaos spreads. it does not have a huge amount of power but it has a huge interest in the whole world is a huge interest because most of our oil comes from this area so if things become bad become problematic it's not just a problem for the west it's a problem for china which will see which ge

king abdullah of jordan is extraordinarily intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive, in touch with his people. the monarchy there is very well respected, even revered. i think there are many things that they can do and will do in approaching this that can meet the aspirations of their people. but, you know, i think secretary clinton gave a very fine speech in qatar a few weeks ago really on the cuss-of all this. she made it very clear i thought in very direct and candid terms that the middle east was facing the very challenge that has now erupted in tunisia and in egypt. i think that, you know, for some time many of us have been talking privately with leaders over there and occasionally publicly. last year i spoke at the islamic conference and similarly laid out thoughts about what was to come if there wasn't better governance, if there wasn't a response to the aspirations of people, if they didn't work to address the humiliation and anger and frustration of young people growing up without opportunities. that's what this is about. i think if we altogether move to address it, it can actually w

saudi king king abdullah invited the king to discuss the enrest wednesday night. the meeting came as anti-government demonstrations in bahrain grow. on tuesday, tens of thousands of shia muslims protested against sunni rule on the streets of the capital manama. sunny muslims also hold power in saudi arabia, despite growing minority shia muslims' frustrations in the oil rich east. the country has seen calls on the internet for large scale anti-government demonstration on march 11th. the saudi government on wednesday unveiled a package worth $36 billion to help boost youth employment and support poor people. the measures are being viewed as an attempt to redistribute oil wealth to appease the public and prevent the uprising from spreading. >>> the turmoil in libya is worsening. leader moammar al gadhafi faces mounting pressure to step down despite a strong show of defiance. support for anti-government protests is growing in the military. waves of demonstrations continue across the country, pitting security forces against demonstrators. anti-government protesters con

in saudi arabia, king abdullah returned to prevent any protests. investors will be watching carefully for any sign measures are failing. bbc news. >> this is "bbc world news." here are the headlines. president obama contends the bloodshed in libya. he says his administration is preparing a full range of options in response. in christchurch, new zealand, rescue workers say no more survivors have been found overnight. 17 -- 71 people are known to have died. there have been violent clashes between the police and protesters and the greek capital of athens. police fired tear gas and stun grenades. protesters hurled petrol bombs from athens, we have this. >> it did not take long for violence erupts -- to erupt, marking the first nationwide strike of the year. yet the protesters prepared an arsenal of petrol bombs and hurled volley after volley at riot police. skirmishes broke out in several regular battlegrounds, especially outside the university where police were taunted and an constitution square, outside parliament. several people were not fast enough

of saudi arabia, like king abdullah of jordan. that we are an unfaithful person. that delicate balance is something which no american president has ever quite gotten righting in the islamic world before. jimmy carter didn't get it right in iran in 1979, george bush didn't get it right in pakistan in 2007 and 2008. sure footedness is very critical here and not trying to force the egyptian system to move faster than the egyptian system is willing to move. >> rose: it is amazing to me when i think about how this dilemma of friend who acts in our own sort of national security interest but at the same time at their core have real problems with people in their own country. how do we find a way to either change their behavior or change their reality? and we've never been able to do that and it exists today with karzai in afghanistan. and it was true with the that and has been true so many times. with the shah. why is it that we can't solve that dilemma, bruce? >> well, every time we've tried to choose a leader for a foreign country-- whe

this is a small protest, and they're not calling for king abdullah to step down, so jordan's rulers do not have anything to fear from their own demonstrators. what they're worried about is egypt defending -- descended into chaos. they fear that will cause instability in the middle east. the worry extends into the plush living room of the general, one of the late king hussein's and her circle. >> there will be tremendous pressures on us, as far as our relations with neighboring countries, with the peace treaty we have with israel, and our relations with the west in general. if egypt disappears as we know what today, as the political system that we know it today, i can easily see the west revising its policy is totally regarding the middle east. >> for the regimes that made the tactical decisions to ally themselves with the west, that could spell danger. >>> world food prices rose to a record high in january according to the u.n. food and agriculture organization. it's as prices of cereals, which form a staple part of diets, are still climbing. rising food prices is seen as one factor in

obama spoke with saudi arabia's king abdullah by phone on wednesday. obama stressed that measures must be taken immediately for an orderly transition of power. he said the united states will remain involved in efforts to achieve peace and stability in the middle east. on the same day u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and defense secretary robert gates met israeli defense minister ehud barak in washington. they remained committed to israel's security through continued aid to its military. the u.s. says it will work closely with egypt's neighbors to prevent the confusion from spreading in the middle east. >>> the anti-government protests in egypt were sparked by pro democracy demonstrations in tunisia more than two weeks ago. >> reporter: protesters began rallying in egypt on january 25th to call for an end to president hosni mubarak's 30-year rule. the unrest spread across egypt with the help of facebook and twitter. nobel laureate mohammad elbaradei, a former head of the u.n.'s nuclear agency gave his support to the protests. on january 29th, pre

in amman, jordan, people took to the streets in the seventh straight day of protests demanding king abdullah dismantle the political system and grant more freedoms. here in cairo the plan is for another big event here next friday, same time, same place, tahrir square. brian. >> ron allen in cairo. pretty clear what we're witnessing now in the middle east. ron, thanks. >>> we mentioned at the very top of the broadcast two health stories in the news tonight. one of them will make a lot of women take notice when they hear about it. it's about breast cancer and biopsies. our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman, here with more on this. nancy, this is apparently needle biopsies versus surgical. >> right. this pertains to women who have abnormal mammograms or find lumps in their breast and need a biopsy. the study reinforces what they have known for a long time and that is most women can do just fine with a needle biopsy, but a report says more women are getting open surgical biopsies. in fact 30% of women are getting the open procedure and it should be no more than 10%. why does it matter? a

now, king abdullah has accepted the need for the first of those demands. today he sacked his government, removed the prime minister and appointed another prime minister in his place. some opposition members have said there should be time to see if that prime minister can do the job. however, the islamist members of the opposition have said that they will not accept the new prime minister and they have pledged to continue with their gatherings, their protests, the next of which is scheduled to happen here on wednesday afternoon. it has to be stressed, the protests here are nothing like on the scale of what we are seeing in egypt. the demonstrations at their maximum have numbered several thousand. although there is the potential for them to grow in number and that's because there's a large number of impoverished people in this country who are getting increasingly concerned about their dier economic state -- dire economic state and the islamist movement could be swelled, if you like, by some of those people. it's a general fear amongst some, i was speaking al

king abdullah returned wednesday after three months away for back surgery. and brought with him a massive economic aid package. it will provide saudis with interest-free home loans, unemployment assistance and debt forgiveness. >>> there's grim news in new zealand in the wake of that massive earthquake. officials say the death toll has climbed to 98. clarissa ward reports from the devastated city of christchurch. >> reporter: in so many parts of this shattered city, the race is on. >> we are pulling people out. some very lucky to be in a pocket. other people, not so lucky. we don't know. >> reporter: at this building, relief. roslyn chapman found alive. her first day on the job. she was trapped for hours in a tiny space under her desk. rescue workers cut through pancaked floors and ceilings to reach her. hundreds of rescuers have been working around the clock, carefully shifting through this rubble. they're armed with sniffer dogs and heat-seeking cameras. they're trying to get a sense whether it's possible that anybody is still buried alive under the rubble

on tuesday, amid growing protests, jordan's king abdullah fired his cabinet and promised to hold long-delayed elections. >>> this morning, one of the most powerful storms in australia's history is about to strike its northeast coast. cyclone yasi is 300 miles wide, packing winds of 186 miles per hour. residents are fleeing the coast, and evacuation centers are already full. government officials warn the storm has the potential to be catastrophic. >> the window of opportunity for you to get to a safer area is closing very quickly. do not bother to pack bags. just grab each other and get to a place of safety. >> storm surges of nearly seven feet are expected. cyclone-force winds are expected to reach 250 miles inland. >>> the fbi and cia are refusing comment on a new disclosure from wikileaks involving a 9/11 attack. "the washington post" says a classified u.s. diplomatic cable obtained by the wikileaks website identifies three men from qatar as suspected members of the plot. the cable says they lived in the u.s. in august of 2001, visited the world trade center and other potential targets, and

king abdullah the second fired his nation's government and appointed the new prime minister who will select a new cabinet. the preemptive move a response to large protests in the streets of another moderate arab nation. in cairo, a mass exodus of foreigners including thousands of americans anxious to leave the country ending up in airports from athens to frankfurt. >> it was chaos and very unpleasant. >> couric: but that didn't stop some egyptian nationals like karim, a financial planer who lives in switzerland, from coming to cairo to take part in the most historic moment egypt has seen in his lifetime. >> there's a cost to change, that's what we're paying now, but i would rather we start reforms now than wait 30 years to get a new president. >> couric: the opposition here in egypt is made up of many factions and many different view points. but they all share one common goal: removing hosni mubarak from power. elizabeth palmer has that part of the story. >> reporter: as these protests have grown bigger, they've grown broader, touching the hopes and dreams of all egyptians. ( speakin

in jordan, king abdullah is now calling for quick and real reforms there. to give the public a greater voice in government. while these protests unfold a half world away, uncertainty in the oil market is already being felt here at home. a gallon of gas already more than 50 cents higher than this time last year. an all-time february high. yunji de nies is in atlanta tonight. >> reporter: good evening, david. here in atlanta, gas is an average of 3.09 a gallon. that's up 8 cents in just the last month. gas prices. they're going nowhere but up. >> a few weeks ago, i was filling this car like less than $30. now i'm going up to $40. >> reporter: yes, we still fill up even when it hurts. what's going on? >> everything's going up but your paycheck. >> reporter: in the last month, the average price has gone up 5 cents per gallon. analysts say, there doesn't need to be a halt of supply to drive oil prices up. nervous energy traders, worried about a disruption in oil supply, are closely watching events in the middle east. and that jittery market is keeping prices hig

king abdullah said to his people, i understand your unhappiness. i am going to make changes to accommodate you. they are not as far and as fast as saudi arabia liberals would like them to go. you are seeing another constant of human history. people do not like to revolt. it takes a lot to drive people to evolution. if the government says to the people, we understand your plight and we are going to change, that is all the people need to hear. it is almost like the tortoise and the hair. -- the hare. it is not about how fast you go. it is about the constancy. i worry about the death of king abdullah and his replacement with a new monarch. he took on the bureaucracy. he took on members of his own family. he has had to fight hard for the limited changes he has able to make. it would not be surprising that when he died, you got another member of the royal family who is not interested in it. if that happened, it could be calamitous. the saudi arabian people are expecting constant change. revolutions occur when expectations are dashed. >> final question h

a former premier and general was appointed by georgians king abdullah to head the government it's not yet known when back to the also a former ambassador to israel will name his cabinet. residence in the flood ravaged australian state of queensland repairing for a new cycle only a day after one heads experts say could be one of the worst storms to ever batter the area some two hundred fifty patients have been evacuated from a regional hospital as a precaution but it comes on the back of severe flooding in the country which claimed at least thirty five lives cycling yancy is expected to hit the coast on wednesday. hazy it has agreed to issue its forward president with a passport opening the way for years possible return. has been living in exile in south africa is being removed from power seven years ago the move comes as a critical time with the final results of the first round all of the disputed presidential election do you on wednesday the government says as soon as it receives an official request from these deeds grants have the past. sweden's child welfare system has been accused

now we're just hearing word that the jordanian king abdullah has fired his government and appointed a new prime minister now this follows demonstrations in jordan over the past few days no doubt as word of that filters down to demonstrators here on the streets of cairo and other egyptian cities it will through all their excitement and only add to the momentum we witnessing today where protesters certainly want to believe that this is it but that does not seem to be the message coming from the egyptian president he has done nothing to meet their demands other than reshuffling his cabinet appointing three new figures but essentially keeping most of the ministers in the same positions mubarak did say that he wanted to talk to the opposition party she said it through his vice president but the opposition parties now say that the time for dialogue is over they do not want to talk to him and nothing short of him stepping down will be satisfactory so what it does seem likely that is going to continue moving forward from here is that we'll see more of these demonstrations more of these upheav

a former premier general was appointed by jordan's king abdullah to head the government is not yet know who's also a former ambassador to israel will name his company. residence in the flood ravaged australian stage of queensland to preparing for a new sign clarion only a day after one hades experts say it could be one of the worst storms to ever go back to the area some two hundred fifty patients have been evacuated from a regional hospital as a precaution it comes on the back of severe flooding in the country which claimed at least thirty five lives scientists say is expected to hit the coast on wednesday . well in just a few minutes but if the head of protocol reveals some unique details about the first russian president's work see in an exclusive interview with alice eve as they this council should raise their school they say because this is for. the welcome to the business news i'm sure. and let's take a look at our top story this hour the london high court has suspended the b.p. ross neff deal to the twenty fifth of february this is the date which the court has set for b.p. to go

authoritarian governments in the middle east whether the coffee version or the mubarak version or the king abdullah version this is the been american policy for generations and i don't think that it in my collection of loneliness plays by the realities is something different excuse me with an alternative all right william this is crunch time. so let me i did the reality says something different and hillary clinton brought in to be leaders of the egyptian cafaro movement to washington to be trained to have a picture on my website of the reshaping hands with many of these people well before this kicked off two thousand and eight the pentagon sent the rand corporation to train come. to be successful after they made some mistakes in an earlier attempt the national endowment for democracy is up to their ears in all of this in every single country there is no neutrality of washington ok please. barak start ok with that watching to try to control events on the ground in the middle east and that's patently absurd i mean there's no way we could be that said so chaotic if so who would believe me the only way

in jordan, fights broke out between supporters of king abdullah and protesters calling for democratic reforms. while in washington, the white house urged governments to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests. we have two reports from the middle east tonight, and two very different situations. we begin with allen pizzey in bahrain. >> reporter: the protesters made another attempt to take back bahrain's main square today. police and soldiers fired antiaircraft guns in the air and rubber bullets and bird shot at anyone who approached. but the bravest, or the craziest, refused to be intimidated. >> (translated): the bullets hit him in the head. there was a fountain of blood coming out of his head. >> reporter: the question is, how much bloodier can it get? the stretchers kept rolling in. this is the casualty center in bahrain's main hospital. ten minutes before we got here, shots rang out in pearl square as protesters tried to get there. live ammunition was fired and doctors are telling us there have been many, many people injured. the triage was desperate and doctors said seve

prices and poor living conditions heat a former premier and general was appointed by jordan's king abdullah to head the government is going to get nowhere to go through a former ambassador to israel will name his company. residents in the flood ravaged australian state of queensland apparel for a new site to date only a day off to one heads experts say could be one of the worst storms to ever batter the area some two hundred fifty patients have been evacuated from a regional hospital as a precaution it comes on the back of severe flooding in the country which claimed at least thirty five lives. is expected to hit the coast on wednesday. it's one of our top stories allan russia's commemoratives first president. who would have turned eighty on t. stay there. not say talks to the head of protocol but. he reveals details about the will. mr xi thank you very much for joining us today so the new russia you know just a first president of russia what were the main new protocol procedures that came with him. i think would be more relevant to describe how i got the job with the new russian yeltsin hi

poor living conditions but of buckwheat a former premier in general was appointed by georgians king abdullah to head the government it's not yet known when back to use those who were former and that israel will name this cabinet. residents in the flood ravaged city of queens lived are preparing for a new site cleared only a day after one head experts say it could be one of the worst storms to ever batter the area some two hundred fifty patients have been evacuated from a regional hospital as a precaution it comes on the back of severe flooding in the country which claimed at least thirty five lives psychoanalyse is expected to hit the coast on wednesday . haiti has agreed to issue its former president with a passport opening the way if possible return. to has been living in exile as the africa since being removed from power seven years ago the move comes out of critical time but the final results of the first round of the disputed presidential election do you on wednesday the government says as soon as it receives an official request from at least did grant him the pots. on its way some swee

libyan leader moammar gadhafi whereabouts after reports that he had fled tripoli so what would king abdullah of saudi arabia tweet we thought he'd say don't worry brother there's a tent in the backyard of my palace with your name on it that's it for tonight show thanks for tuning in make sure we come back tomorrow laura dickinson the author of outsourcing war and peace will be on the program in the meantime don't forget to become a fan of the a lot of show on facebook and to follow us on twitter you missed anything you can always catch the dollar dot com national coming up next is big news with the latest headlines from the u.s. sentimental. these stress nutritious and this is products on the price of healthy eating. we need to test these foods for toxicity allergenicity immune response lower nutrition and for environmental contamination don't you feel like a law brought some consider the experiment to use human treatment to freddie i believe significant differences between the g.m. felt that they both at their own g.m. . but they weren't treated so well themselves one question means one car