Saudi King Counters Dissent With $36 Billion as Clerics Scold Protesters

King Abdullah of Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia - As unrest escalated across the Middle East, activists in Saudi Arabia demanded a political voice as well. Rather than promises of democracy, they got a $36 billion handout and a slap down from Islamic clerics. Saudi academics, writers and representatives of the minority Shiite Muslim population called on King Abdullah, the sixth monarch in the Arab