Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi arms merchant and world-class playboy, dies

Washington

ADNAN Khashoggi, a Saudi middleman-for-hire who amassed huge wealth and influence peddling everything from American weapons to favours for Riyadh's rulers and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spymasters, only to see his fortunes collapse amid the Iran-contra affair and other scandals, died on Tuesday at a hospital in London. He was 81, by most accounts.

The cause was complications from Parkinson's disease, the family said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.