Senate endorses bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Riyadh for damages

The US Senate on Tuesday approved a bill enabling citizens whose relatives died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for damages. Riyadh is accused of supporting the terror network that carried out the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that took the lives of thousands of people in 2001. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that "it's difficult to imagine the president signing this legislation." Obama opposes the bill due to concern over relations with Riyadh, Saudi threats to withdraw economic investments worth tens of billions of dollars from the US, and the possibility that the bill will serve as a precedent that will result in the US being sued over its actions in armed conflicts throughout the world.