Saudi king lands in Red Sea megacity

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman arrived at a planned Red Sea megacity to "rest and recuperate", state media said Thursday, after the 84-year-old ruler underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder.

The kingdom has sought to quell speculation over the health of the ageing monarch, who has ruled the top oil exporter and the Arab world’s biggest economy since 2015. "The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman arrived in NEOM, where he will spend some time to rest and recuperate," the official Saudi Press Agency said in a brief statement.

State television showed the king standing on an escalator descending from a plane and later arriving in a convoy of cars at what appeared to be a royal palace in NEOM, an area in the kingdom’s northwest that is currently under development.