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[juhainah]

Monarch had ruled in name only since stroke; Abdullah appointed new ruler
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia�s King Fahd, who moved his country closer to the United States but ruled the world�s largest oil producing nation in name only since suffering a stroke in 1995, died early Monday, the Saudi royal court said. He was 84.

Crown Prince Abdullah, the king�s half brother and already Saudi Arabia�s de factor ruler, was appointed the country�s new monarch.

�With all sorrow and sadness, the royal court in the name of his highness Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and all members of the family announces the death of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz,� according to a statement read on state-run Saudi TV by the country�s information minister.
Fahd died at approximately 2:30 a.m. EDT, a senior Saudi official in Washington told The Associated Press. President Bush was alerted within minutes of Fahd�s death, the official told The AP on condition of anonymity. The king�s funeral was to be held Tuesday evening, he said.

Saudi TV, which said the king was 84 years of age, broke with regular broadcasting to announce Fahd�s death. Quranic verse recitals followed the announcement by the minister, Iyad bin Amin Madani, whose voice wavered with emotion as he read the statement.

Madani said only that the king, whose exact date of birth wasn�t known, died of an illness.

Fahd died at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where he was admitted on May 27 for unspecified medical tests, an official at the hospital told The AP on condition of anonymity because news of the monarch�s death had not been officially announced at the time.

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