Saudi Arabia announces plan to build mega-city.

A Qatari royal says he is being held against his will in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali al-Thani - who played a role in negotiating with Saudi Arabia during the Qatar diplomatic crisis last year - made the claims in a YouTube video released on Sunday.

He claims he is being held by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince, who will be "fully responsible" if anything happens to him.

A UAE official denied the accusations.

In the video statement, the Qatari sheikh, an uncle of the current Qatari emir, is seated in an armchair, talking directly to camera.

"I'm currently in Abu Dhabi, being hosted by Sheikh Mohamed. But this is not a hosting status. Rather, it is a 'holding' one. They told me not to move," he says.

He continues: "I'd like to inform you that if something happens to me, Qatar will be innocent of it."

Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi, who heads Abu Dhabi's education department and a counter-extremism centre, sent a series of tweets saying Sheikh Abdullah is free to go "whenever he wants".

Sheikh Abdullah brokered a deal with Saudi Arabia to allow Qatari pilgrims into the country after Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June 2017.

The video was published on a YouTube channel run by Emirates news site UAE 71.

Twelve prized camels have been disqualified from a beauty contest in Saudi Arabia after their owners tried to tweak their good looks with Botox.

Thousands of camels are paraded at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival to be judged on their shapely lips and humps.

But judges stepped in when they discovered some owners had cheated in a bid to win the cash prizes.

The festival, which also features camel racing and camel milk tasting, has combined prize money of $57m (£40m).

Ali Al Mazrouei, the son of a top Emirati breeder, said Botox was used for the lips, the nose and even the jaw, news website The National reported.

"It makes the head more inflated so when the camel comes it's like, 'oh look at how big that head is. It has big lips, a big nose'," he said.

Judges are also looking for perfectly placed humps, muscular physiques and leathery mouths.

In the lead up to the festival, Saudi media reported that a vet had been caught giving camels plastic surgery including Botox injections and reducing the size of their ears.

Saudi authorities take the festival very seriously and chief judge Fawzan al-Madi said the camel was "a symbol of Saudi Arabia".

"We used to preserve it out of necessity, now we preserve it as a pastime," he said.

The camel beauty contest was first held in 2000 and last year was relocated from a remote desert area to a permanent venue north of the capital, Riyadh.

Some of Saudi Arabia's most powerful men detained in November in an anti-corruption purge have been released.

Among those set free are Waleed al-Ibrahim, the head of MBC television network, and Khalid al-Tuwaijiri, a former chief of the royal court.

They have paid substantial financial settlements, reports say - though the amounts have not been made public.

More than 200 princes, politicians, and wealthy businessmen were detained in the crackdown.

Since then, they have been held in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, which is due to reopen on 14 February.

The settlements are likely to have been costly.

Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was released at the end of November, paid more than $1bn (£750m).

Media reports suggest that Mr al-Ibrahim's deal may have included his controlling share in MBC - the largest media company in the Middle East.

The anti-corruption drive was instigated by Prince Mohammed bin Salman - who has been accused of using the investigation to remove opponents and consolidate his power.

In the aftermath of the purge, Saudi Arabia's attorney general said at least $100bn (£76bn) had been misused through systemic corruption and embezzlement going back decades.

The detentions - and the expensive settlements - are being characterised by the state as an attempt to recover those funds.

Many more of those detained remain in the Ritz Carlton under guard, until it reopens for Valentine's Day in mid-February.

Those who do not reach settlements before then are expected to be sent to prison to await trial.

Meanwhile, one of the highest-profile detainees, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told Reuters news agency on Saturday that he expected to be cleared of wrongdoing and "released from custody within days".

The billionaire - who is one of the country's richest people - said he expected to keep full control of his investment firm.

The disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has sparked speculation that he has been abducted or killed by Riyadh, as a punishment for criticising government policy in his articles for western newspapers. A week has now passed since he was last seen entering the consulate in Istanbul, and the Saudis continue to deny any knowledge of his whereabouts.

While it is not yet clear exactly what has happened to Khashoggi, this grim case is revealing insofar as it reflects the Saudi government’s attitude to those it regards as dissidents, as well as its handling of international speculation over its internal affairs. Both are in line with a new assertive image designed for international as well as Saudi domestic consumption.

Developments in the kingdom over the past year follow a clear pattern. Since the ascension of Mohammed bin Salman to the position of crown prince and de facto ruler, Saudi Arabia has entered an era in which internal dissent – no matter who is behind it – is met with brutality. Last year, the world was gripped as the authorities took the unprecedented step of detaining several members of the royal family in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh on corruption charges. The intended message is that not even blood ties will stand in the way of Bin Salman realising his political and socioeconomic vision. If he can be this tough towards his own relatives, the thinking goes, then no Saudi who puts a foot wrong is safe.

Alongside this, the Saudi state has painted itself as the only legitimate orchestrator of change in the country. Modernisation initiatives, such as allowing women to drive, are said to come from the top rather than being a response to decades of grassroots activism. Some of the female activists involved in that struggle have been arrested and detained in recent months, to signal that the state does not bow to internal pressure.

The same goes for international criticism. When Canada expressed concern about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of those activists, the response from Riyadh was that this represented an attack on the kingdom’s sovereignty.

Last November, when there were rumours that the Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, was being held in Riyadh against his will, Saudi authorities resisted pressure to respond quickly or give reassurances about his wellbeing. Similarly, they won’t rush to respond to the outside world’s demands for information about Khashoggi.

As one of the Saudi government’s more measured critics, Khashoggi doesn’t fit the classic profile of a state enemy. His disappearance has even sparked responses from journalists working for pro-Saudi outlets in the region, who expressed concern about the case and said they hoped he was still alive.

Their alarm shows just how widely the crackdown is being felt. Whatever the ultimate fate of Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s new zero-tolerance approach to dissent is being broadcast loud and clear.

33 times as big as NYC, and they think they can build it for a mere half trillion?

They may as well try to make Esperanto its official language.

Yeah right!