Riyadh  - Around three million Muslims have gathered on Sunday on Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia to perform one of the most important practices in the hajj pilgrimage.

During this day, which coincides with the 9th day of the last month in the Muslim lunar calendar, pilgrims spend hours praying and reading the Holy Koran.

Amid tight security, pilgrims headed to Arafat, which lies in the west of the Kingdom, late on Saturday.

Also known as the Mount of Mercy, it is the place Islam's prophet Mohammad is said to have delivered his Farewell Sermon to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj, 14 centuries ago.

Cairo  - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak and Saudi king Abdullah Friday launched two ferries that Saudi Arabia donated to Egypt.

Donation of the vessels, "Cairo" and "Riyadh", came two years after the Egyptian-owned ferry "Salam 98" caught fire and sank in the Red Sea, killing around 1,000 people and stirring angry debate in Egypt over lax safety controls.

Both leaders attended a ceremony in the Red Sea port of Jeddah to pass the ownership of the ferries to the Egyptian government. The two ferries will run between Dhuba in Saudi Arabia and Safaga in Egypt.

Each ferry is 88 metres high and 24 metres wide and can carry up to 1,220 passengers, plus 200 small vehicles.

New York - Saudi Arabia's Prince al-Walid bin Talal said Thursday that he plans to increase his stake in US bank Citigroup to 5 per cent of its shares.

Brussels - The seizure by pirates of a Saudi Arabian oil tanker shows that NATO must step up its efforts to make the world's seas safe, the alliance's top military commander said Wednesday.

Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, head of NATO's military committee, said there was a "growing awareness" among allies on the need to increase maritime security.

Riyadh/Nairobi - The owners of a Saudi Arabian oil tanker captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia are negotiating a possible ransom, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Wednesday, according to the Duabai-based al-Arabiya channel.

The Sirius Star, a supertanker owned by the Saudi Arabian firm Vela International that was carrying some 100 million-dollars-worth of crude oil was hijacked Saturday 830 kilometres south-east of the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.

Abu Dhabi - The Egyptian President Hosni Mu