Saudi Arabia's King Fahd was taken to a Riyadh hospital on Friday for medical tests, the Saudi Press Agency said. The official news agency published a royal office statement saying King Fahd was admitted to King Faisal specialist hospital in Riyadh for medical tests. "We ask God ... to preserve and protect" the king, the statement said.
King Fahd, 82, has been ill since the mid-1990s. Thus, his half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, has effectively ruled the kingdom for about a decade now.
Earlier this week, Saudi officials denied rumors the monarch died, but described the king as "tired".
