Saudi prince sits down with former president Carter at the Fairmont Copley

All eyes were on Saudi business tycoon Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud and his wife, Princess Ameerah Al-Tawell, at an event at the Fairmont Copley commemorating the Alwaleed Bin Talal Centers for Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding. (One of the six centers funded by the prince to improve cooperation is at Harvard.) Among the wealthiest people in the world – Forbes lists his net worth at $19.4 billion – Alwaleed’s investments include Twitter, News Corp., Citigroup, and the Four Seasons and Fairmont hotel management companies. (The prince chose to spend the night at the Four Seasons.) The evening included a conversation between the prince and former president Jimmy Carter, who appeared remarkably vigorous at 87. The crowd included William Fatt, CEO of Fairmont Raffles Hotels Intenternational, Kathleen Taylor, CEO of the Four Seasons Hotels, former Florida congressman Alan Grayson, Global Post CEO Phil Balboni, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, radio host Callie Crossley, Christian Science board member Mary Trammell, Alex Jones of the Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, and attorney Geoff Lewis. Alwaleed called for rejecting extremists and focusing on common values among faiths. And Carter again urged Israel to return to 1967 borders and called on Syria to accelerate elections. Asked if he feels free to say what he thinks, Carter replied: “Well, I’m never going to run for office again. And I have Secret Service protection for the rest of my life.”